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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
Protocols for Vaginal Inoculation and Sample Collection in the Experimental Mouse Model of Candida vaginitis
Published on: December 8, 2011
An experimental porcine model of invasive candidiasis
Anders Krifors1,2, Anders Lignell3,4, Miklós Lipcsey5,6
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. anders.krifors@ki.se.
Background:
Invasive candidiasis (IC) is a severe and often fatal fungal infection that affects critically ill patients. The development of animal models that mimic human disease is essential for advancing our understanding of IC pathophysiology and testing experimental or novel treatments. We aimed to develop a large animal model of IC that could provide a much-needed addition to the widely used murine models.
Results:
A total of 25 pigs (including one control), aged between 9 and 12 weeks, with a median weight of 25.1 kg (IQR 24.1-26.2), were used to develop the porcine IC model. We present the setup, the results of the experiments, and the justification for the changes made to the model. The experiments were conducted in an intensive care setting, using clinically relevant anaesthesia, monitoring and interventions. The final model used corticosteroids, repeated Candida inoculation, and continuous endotoxin. The model consistently demonstrated quantifiable growth of Candida in blood and organs. The registered physiological data supported the development of the sepsis-induced circulatory distress observed in IC patients in the ICU.
Conclusions:
Our proposed porcine model of IC offers a potential new tool in the research of IC.
