FIG 7.

Effect of synergistic treatment with LF and AMB on the induction of morphological variants in Cryptococcus. (A and B) Cell diameter (left) and capsule thickness (right) of C. neoformans H99 (A) and C. deuterogattii R265 (B) grown under capsule-inducing conditions (DMEM with 5% CO₂ at 37°C for 5 days) either with no treatment or in the presence of 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 MIC of LF-D1 or AMB or 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 FIC of LF-AMB (the MICs and FICs for each species can be found in Table 2) (n = 100). Error bars show the mean ± 95% confidence interval. (Bottom) Indian ink-stained preparations showing the variation in capsule and cell size for each treatment. Bars = 10 μm for C. neoformans and 20 μm for C. deuterogattii. (C and D) To demonstrate the relationship between capsule production and cell size, the average cell volume is plotted against the average total volume (cell plus capsule) for 100 individual cells under each treatment for C. neoformans H99 (C) and C. deuterogattii R265 (D). Cells for which the results sit farther along the x axis possess a larger relative capsular volume, while cells for which the results sit farther along the y axis possess larger cell volumes. (E and F) The presence and frequency of morphological variants in C. neoformans H99 (E) and C. deuterogattii R265 (F) following the various treatments. *, irregular cell numbers are expressed as a percentage of the number of induced cells; N/A, not applicable.