Open AccessScanning Electron Microscopy of Candida albicans After In Vitro Treatment with Miconazole
Author(s) -
Sonja De Nollin,
M. Borgers
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.7.5.704
Subject(s) - miconazole , candida albicans , scanning electron microscope , transmission electron microscopy , in vitro , electron microscope , biology , cytoplasm , fungicide , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , chemistry , antifungal , materials science , biochemistry , nanotechnology , botany , optics , physics , composite material
A study was made on the in vitro action of the antimycotic miconazole onCandida albicans yeast cells with scanning electron microscopy, and the effects were compared with those seen on the yeast cells by means of transmission electron microscopy. It was found that cells exposed to fungistatic and minimal fungicidal doses of miconazole (10−7 M and 10−6 M) presented rough surfaces and had multiple, desoriented buds and bud scars. Whereas in control cultures the cells were well separated, the treated ones formed small clusters of interconnected cells. After exposure to a fungicidal concentration (10−4 M) of the drug, most of the remaining cells showed smooth surfaces and were covered with numerous vesicular structures probably representing cytoplasmic remnants derived from broken cells. This has been substantiated by the presence of abundant fragments of cell walls and confirmed by examination of similarly treated cultures in the transmission electron microscope. Moreover, the cells with an apparently intact surface when examined with scanning electron microscopy were shown with transmission electron microscopical examination to be completely necrotic inside.