Experimental candidosis: paw oedema in the analysis of a local infection

Existing models of Candida albicans infection are semi-quantitative and do not allow continuous observations to be made on individual animals. We have used the inflammatory response in the footpad as an indirect measure of the number of yeast cells in a localised lesion. C. albicans infection of the footpad has been used in series of experiments in which changes in yeast-cell numbers in the local lesion have been compared with the degree of footpad oedema. Studies in animals treated with cyclophosphamide or amphotericin have confirmed that paw oedema parallels yeast-cell numbers in the local lesion. This quantitative approach will be helpful in the study of localised infection with C. albicans and other fungi and in the evaluation of antifungal agents.