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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Med Mycol. 2010 Mar;48(2):10.1080/13693780903164566. doi: 10.1080/13693780903164566

Fig. 1. Phagocytosis of C. albicans and C. parapsilosis by human neutrophils.

Fig. 1

C. albicans and C. parapsilosis yeast were labeled with FITC and combined with human neutrophils at the indicated MOI. After allowing phagocytosis to occur, cells were counterstained with ethidium bromide and examined by fluorescence microscopy. Neutrophils containing intracellular (green) yeast were scored as a percentage of total neutrophils. Error bars represent standard deviation. Each experiment was performed in triplicate at minimum, and data represent a minimum of three individual neutrophil donors. (A) Phagocytosis of heat-killed yeast at MOI = 10, 50, or 100. Phagocytosis of C. parapsilosis was significantly higher than C. albicans for all strains and at all MOIs (p < 0.001). (B) Phagocytosis of live vs. heat-killed (HK) yeast at MOI = 100. Phagocytosis of live C. parapsilosis was significantly higher than live C. albicans for all strains (p < 0.001). (C) Percentage of neutrophils undergoing phagocytosis that internalized 1, 2, 3, or 4+ yeast per cell. A single, representative strain of C. albicans (Ca3153a) and C. parapsilosis (Ro18) is depicted in the figure. The percentage of neutrophils that had phagocytosed 4+ yeast/cell was significantly higher for C. parapsilosis than C. albicans at MOI = 50 or 100 (p = 0.0001), and trended toward a higher percentage at MOI = 10 (p = 0.056). (D) Effect of cytochalasin D on phagocytosis. Neutrophils were pretreated with cytochalasin D and phagocytosis assays were conducted at MOI = 100 to maximize phagocytosis efficiency. As expected, cytochalsin D inhibits phagocytosis (p < 0.03). Because of the low baseline phagocytosis rate of Ca-4, statistical significance was not achieved.