Influence of Various Ultraviolet Light Intensities on Pathogenic Determinants of Candida albicans

The effect of pretreatment of Candida albicans with different UV light (360 nm) intensities (4, 6 and 10 W m super(-2)) at different time intervals (6, 12, 24 and 48 h) in an attempt to investigate its influence on proteinase and phospholipase activities in correlation with in vitro adherence to Buccal Epithelial Cells (BECs) and lethality to mice were studied. Irradiated C. albicans cells were found to be less virulent than non-irradiated. Exposure of C. albicans to various doses of radiation led to a reduction in adherence between 6.8 and 66.7% of the control value. This reduction was dose intensity and time related. The secretion of extracellular proteinase and phospholipase was also reduced to statistically significant between irradiated and non-irradiated C. albicans. Experimental mouse groups were intraperitonialy injected with irradiated C. albicans and a statistically significant difference was observed between irradiated and non-irradiated C. albicans cells from kidneys, spleen, stomach and whole intestine, while no significant difference was found between both groups of C. albicans isolated from the liver. These results clearly demonstrated the significant role of ultraviolet light on phospholipase and proteinase activities and on adherence of C. albicans and their overall influence on the pathogenesis of Candida species.