Antigenicity of cell wall mannans of Candida albicans NIH A-207 strain cells cultured in galactose-added yeast nitrogen base medium.

The cultivations of the Candida albicans NIH A-207 strain (A-strain) for 5 d at 27 and 37 degrees C in 500 mM galactose-added yeast nitrogen base medium (YNB-Gal) decreased the growth of blastoconidia and the pH in the cultures, with dry weights of 56 and 47% and with pHs of 2.41 and 2.47, compared with the dry weight of 100% and pH of 5.63 for a standard cultivation of 2 d at 27 degrees C in the yeast extract-added Sabouraud liquid medium (YSLM). The cells obtained by cultivations at 27 and 37 degrees C in the YNB-Gal clearly decreased the agglutination against serum factors 4, 5, and 6 in the commercially available kit 'Candida Check', especially at 37 degrees C, in contrast to those obtained by the standard cultivation. It was also revealed by 1H-NMR analysis that both the mannans obtained from cultures at 27 and 37 degrees C in the YNB-Gal had drastically lost a phosphate group and a beta-1,2-linked mannopyranose unit, and increased the non-reducing terminal alpha-1,3-linked mannopyranose unit, especially at 37 degrees C.