Imaging morphogenesis of Candida albicans during infection in a live animal.

Candida albicans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen that requires an intact host immune response to prevent disease. Thus, studying host-pathogen interactions is critical to understanding and preventing this disease. We report a new model infection system in which ongoing C. albicans infections can be imaged at high spatial resolution in the ears of living mice. Intradermal inoculation into mouse ears with a C. albicans strain expressing green fluorescent protein results in systemic C. albicans infection that can be imaged in vivo using confocal microscopy. We observed filamentous growth of the organism in vivo as well as formation of microabscesses. This model system will allow us to gain significant new information about C. albicans pathogenesis through studies of host-C. albicans interactions in the native environment.