Haemoperfused liver as an ex vivo model for organ invasion of Candida albicans.

To study invasion of the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, several infection models have been established. This study describes the successful establishment of an ex vivo haemoperfused liver as a model to study invasion of C. albicans. Perfused organs from pigs could be kept functional for up to 12 h. By comparing a non-invasive and invasive strain of C. albicans and by following a time course of invasion, it was shown that the invasion process in the perfused liver infection model is very similar to the in vivo situation after intraperitoneal infection of mice. The advantage of this set-up compared with other models of invasion is discussed.