Background:The human innate immune system can discriminate between Candida albicans yeast and hyphal forms. Results: C. albicans hyphae possess glucan structures that are unique to the hyphae and are not found in yeast. Conclusion: Hyphal glucan elicits robust immune responses.Significance: These data provide a structural basis for differential immune recognition of C. albicans yeast versus hyphae.

Water-soluble, biodegradable, polymeric, polyelectrolyte complex dispersions (PECs) have evolved because of the limitations, in terms of toxicity, of the currently available systems. These aqueous nanoparticulate architectures offer a significant advantage for products that may be used as drug delivery systems in humans. PECs are created by mixing oppositely charged polyions. Their hydrodynamic diameter, surface charge, and polydispersity are highly dependent on concentration, ionic strength, pH, and molecular parameters of the polymers that are used. In particular, the complexation between polyelectrolytes with significantly different molecular weights leads to the formation of water-insoluble aggregates. Several PEC characteristics are favorable for cellular uptake and colloidal stability, including hydrodynamic diameter less than 200 nm, surface charge of >30 mV or <-30 mV, spherical morphology, and polydispersity index (PDI) indicative of a homogeneous distribution. Maintenance of these properties is critical for a successful delivery vehicle. This review focuses on the development and potential applications of PECs as multi-functional, site-specific nanoparticulate drug/gene delivery and imaging devices.

The cell wall of Candida albicans is central to the yeasts ability to withstand osmotic challenge, to adhere to host cells, to interact with the innate immune system and ultimately to the virulence of the organism. Little is known about the effect of culture conditions on the cell wall structure and composition of C. albicans. We examined the effect of different media and culture temperatures on the molecular weight (Mw), polymer distribution and composition of cell wall mannan and mannoprotein complex. Strain SC5314 was inoculated from frozen stock onto yeast peptone dextrose (YPD), blood or 5% serum agar media at 30 or 37°C prior to mannan/mannoprotein extraction. Cultivation of the yeast in blood or serum at physiologic temperature resulted in an additive effect on Mw, however, cultivation media had the greatest impact on Mw. Mannan from a yeast grown on blood or serum at 30°C showed a 38.9 and 28.6% increase in Mw, when compared with mannan from YPD-grown yeast at 30°C. Mannan from the yeast pregrown on blood or serum at 37°C showed increased Mw (8.8 and 26.3%) when compared with YPD mannan at 37°C. The changes in Mw over the entire polymer distribution were due to an increase in the amount of mannoprotein (23.8-100%) and a decrease in cell wall mannan (5.7-17.3%). We conclude that C. albicans alters the composition of its cell wall, and thus its phenotype, in response to cultivation in blood, serum and/or physiologic temperature by increasing the amount of the mannoprotein and decreasing the amount of the mannan in the cell wall.

The Candida albicans cell wall provides an architecture that allows for the organism to survive environmental stresses as well as interaction with host tissues. Previous work has focused on growing C. albicans on media such as Sabouraud or YPD at 30 °C. Because C. albicans normally colonizes a host, we hypothesized that cultivation on blood or serum at 37 °C would result in structural changes in cell wall mannan. C. albicans SC5314 was inoculated onto YPD, 5% blood, or 5% serum agar media three successive times at 30 °C and 37 °C, then cultivated overnight at 30 °C in YPD. The mannan was extracted and characterized using 1D and 2D 1H NMR techniques. At 30 °C cells grown in blood and serum contain less acid-stable terminal β-(1→2)-linked D-mannose and α-(1→2)-linked D-mannose-containing side chains, while the acid-labile side chains of mannan grown in blood and serum contain fewer β-Man-(1→2)-α-Man-(1→ side chains. The decrement in acid-stable mannan side chains is greater at 37 °C than at 30 °C. Cells grown on blood at 37 °C show fewer →6)-α-Man-(1→ structural motifs in the acid-stable polymer backbone. The data indicate that C. albicans, grown on media containing host derived components, produces less complex mannan. This is accentuated when the cells are cultured at 37 °C. This study demonstrates that the C. albicans cell wall is a dynamic and adaptive organelle, which alters its structural phenotype in response to growth in host-derived media at physiological temperature.

A non-toxic, nanoparticulate polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) drug delivery system was formulated to maintain suitable physicochemical properties at physiological pH. Toxicity, binding, and internalization were evaluated in relevant microvascular endothelial cells. PEC were non-toxic, as indicated by cell proliferation studies and propidium iodide staining. Inhibitor studies revealed that PEC were bound, in part, via heparan sulfate proteoglycans and internalized through macropinocytosis. A novel, flow cytometric, Scatchard protocol was established and showed that PEC, in the absence of surface modification, bind cells non-specifically with positive cooperativity, as seen by graphical transformations.