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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2000, p. 3260-3266, Vol. 38, No. 9
The Second Department of Internal Medicine,
Oita Medical University, Hasama-machi, Oita 879-5593, Japan
Received 1 February 2000/Returned for modification 15 April
2000/Accepted 26 June 2000
Trichosporon asahii and Trichosporon
mucoides are the most common strains of fungi that cause
disseminated trichosporonosis, a severe opportunistic infection in
immunocompromised hosts. We have previously established a nested PCR
assay using serum samples for detection of both strains. Here we
describe a new experimental animal model for investigating the
underlying mechanisms of disseminated trichosporonosis. T. asahii (OMU239, a clinical isolate from a patient with acute
myelogenous leukemia) and 8-week-old ICR male mice were used in all
experiments. A suspension of T. asahii (3 × 106 CFU/animal) was injected into the caudal vein of each
mouse after immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg of body
weight/day for 2 days) and prednisolone (30 mg/kg/day for 1 day). Mice
were then divided into four subgroups (R0, R1, R2, and R3) based on the
time of reimmunosuppression. The latter was performed using the same
drugs 1 week (group R1), 2 weeks (group R2), and 3 weeks (group R3)
after fungal infection. Reimmunosuppression was not performed in group
R0. The 5-week-survival rates of mice after T. asahii
infection were 0% for group R1, 50% for group R2, 80% for group R3,
and 80% for group R0. There was a significant difference in the
survival rates between group R1 and either group R0 or R3
(P < 0.05). Fungal clearance in peripheral blood and
various organs of group R1 and R2 was delayed relative to that of group R0 but was similar to the control in group R3 in spite of
reimmunosuppression. Our results suggest that the critical period for
the development of disseminated trichosporonosis in our model is
shorter than 3 weeks after T. asahii infection. We
concluded that mice during this critical period were in a state of
latent trichosporonemia. Comparison of the survival rates suggests that
the nested PCR assay was more useful than blood culture and
glucuronoxylomannan antigen assay in the detection of this latent trichosporonemia.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Experimental Model of Progressive Disseminated
Trichosporonosis in Mice with Latent Trichosporonemia
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Second
Department of Internal Medicine, Oita Medical University, Hasama-machi, Oita 879-5593, Japan. Phone: 81-97-586-5804. Fax: 81-97-549-4245. E-mail: eijiy{at}oita-med.ac.jp.
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