Effect of systemic candidiasis on blastogenesis of lymphocytes from germfree and conventional rats

Germfree and conventional rats were challenged (intravenously) with Candida albicans and sacrificed at various times after infection, and their spleen cells were harvested to examine the effect of disseminated candidiasis on in vitro lymphocyte hypersensitivity to Candida antigens (CA). Results showed that conventional rat splenocytes, initially responsive in vitro to stimulation by CA, manifested a depression in CA-specific responsiveness after challenge with viable C. albicans (days 3 to 6 postchallenge). In addition, the latter splenocyte response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (ConA) was suppressed by 3 to 6 days after challenge with Candida. In contrast to conventional rats, the response of germfree rat splenocytes to CA was insignificant before challenge with C. albicans, and it was increased at 9 days after infection. The response of uninfected germfree rat splenocytes to PHA and ConA was significantly lower than that of unchallenged conventional rats. Challenge with viable C. albicans did not result in a suppression of gnotobiotic rat splenocyte responses to PHA and ConA, but rather, the disseminated infection resulted in as much as fivefold increases in PHA or ConA-induced blastogenesis. These findings suggest that disseminated candidiasis is capable of suppressing blastogenesis in immunologically mature conventional rats and of improving lymphocyte blastogenesis from immunologically immature germfree rats.