Khan L.A.1*, Ojha R.2, Manzoor N.3
1Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences
2Research Scholar, Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi, India.
3Assistant Professor, Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi, India.
* Corresponding Author : luqmank5@rediffmail.com
Received : - Accepted : - Published : 15-06-2009
Volume : 1 Issue : 1 Pages : 19 - 24
Int J Microbiol Res 1.1 (2009):19-24
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.9735/0975-5276.1.1.19-24
Keywords : Candida albicans, ascorbic acid, proteinase, oxidative stress, cytotoxicity, hyphal transition
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The current study was supported by UGC India,
grant no: 33-223/2007 to Dr. L.A. Khan and Dr.
N. Manzoor. Authors wish to thank Amber Khan
and Aijaz Ahmad for their cooperation and
support
Candida albicans is an opportunistic commensal of the human gastrointestinal tract and vaginal mucosa, causing opportunistic fungal infections in an immunocompromised patient. In the present study we have investigated the effect of ascorbic acid on growth and its several pathogenicity markers. Turbidometric measurement for growth; proteinase assay, WST-1 cell cytotoxicity assay, colony count method and inverted microscopy were performed to check pathogenecity markers of C. albicans ATCC 10261 strain. 150 mg/ml concentration of ascorbic acid arrests cell growth. It was observed that higher ascorbate level of 250 mg/ml reduces proteinase secretion (an important mechanism suggestive of virulence in Candida) exhibited by mean precipitation zone value of 2.375 which is remarkably less than that of Control cells (value 4.125). At higher concentration of ascorbic acid increases cell cytotoxcity (79.71 percent inhibition at 150 mg/ml) and decreases percent viability under oxidative stress (98 percent reduction at 250 mg/ml concentration). Transition studies showed cessation of germ tube induction and hyphae formation at lower concentrations (15 mg onwards) of ascorbic acid. Results indicate that higher ascorbic acid level somehow decreases pathogenic attribute of Candida albicans, while yeast to hyphal studies show an exception, were lower concentration was effective in inhibiting hyphae formation. Thus ascorbic acid exhibits its pro-oxidant nature in present in-vitro studies.
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