[Animal experiments on the persorption of Candida albicans and a possible resultant immune response (author's...

The aim of this study was to find out whether the saprophytic presence of abnormally high quantities of C. albicans in the digestive tract leads to the development of a) positive serological reactions to this fungus and/or b) fungaemia via persorption. The following experiments were performed with rabbits: Administration of suspensions of living or inactivated yeast cells or of starch flour by gastric tube; intradermal immunization and administration of certain antibiotics in a separate comparative series; serological, histological and/or mycological investigations in blood, urine and tissue samples. The results gave a positive answer to both questions in that the ingestion of the yeast produced a titre of up to 1 : 320 to C. albicans and moreover showed persorption of fungal cells leading to fungaemia and, in some cases, to septicaemia. Persorption was observed histologically and found to be a completely passive procedure. The administration of doxycycline and gentamycin caused an additional increase in serological titres and in the percentage of cases of septicaemia.