Figure 2. C. albicans cells with large LDs are resistant to the phototoxicity of HA.

(A) The killing curve of HA-mediated photodynamic inactivation against C. albicans cultured in YPD medium. C. albicans SC5314, CA2, CA10 strains were cultured in YPD medium. Cells grown overnight were diluted to 10⁶ CFUs/ml and exposed to HA with light irradiation for 10 min. The surviving cells were then measured by the colony counting method. (B) The distribution of HA in C. albicans cells. C. albicans SC5314 cells were cultured in SD medium and stained with BODIPY to visualise LD localisation. Prestained cells were incubated with HA for CLSM observation. (C) The viability of C. albicans cells that were treated with HA-mediated photodynamic inactivation. C. albicans SC5314 cells cultured in YPD medium were treated with HA and exposed to light irradiation. After 10 min, cells were stained with the live/dead-indicating dye SYTOX for CLSM observation. (D) The amounts of HA trapped in LDs of C. albicans that were cultured in YPD or YPDO medium. C. albicans SC5314 cells were cultured in YPD medium or YPDO medium. After overnight growth, cells were prestained with BODIPY and incubated with HA for CLSM observation. (E) Comparison of survival times of C. albicans cells between cells cultured in YPD medium with small LDs (SLDs) and cells cultured in YPDO medium with large LDs (LLDs) (n = 29 for SLDs cells, n = 36 for LLDs cells). One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni test were used to evaluate the difference in survival times. ***p < 0.001.