[Usefulness of D-proline in the differentiation of varieties of Cryptococcus neoformans]

A comparative study was conducted between the assimilation of D-proline and the growth on canavanine-glycine-bromothymol blue (CGB) medium used for the classification of the varieties of Cryptococcus neoformans. In the 86 studied strains, 100% of coincidence between both methods allowed to affirm that 95.34% corresponded to the neoformans var. and the rest (4.65%) to the gattii var. The results obtained corroborated that all the autoctonous clinical isolations up to the present correspond to the. neoformans var. and made possible to suggest the use of D-proline for the initial evaluation of strains, as an alternative and simple method that presented under these conditions high coincidence with the reference method (growth in CGB).