FIG 1.

CFS effect. (A) The effects of the CFS, obtained from L. acidophilus (L.a.), L. plantarum (L.p.), L. rhamnosus (L.rh.), and L. reuteri (L.re.) on C. parapsilosis growth, viability, pseudohyphae formation, and adhesion capacity to vaginal cells monolayer were assessed after 24 h coculture. (B) Measured pH values of the 4 different CFS (CFS L.a., L.p., L.rh., L.re.), the acidified medium (MRS-HCl), and medium (MRS). The chart reports the mean pH values ± SD from three different determinations, performed on 3 different batches of CFS, MRS, and MRS-HCl. (C) Effects of the CFS on C. parapsilosis growth compared to fungi grown either in MRS (C.p.) or acidified MRS (C.p.+MRS-HCl). The graph shows the average OD₆₂₀ ± SD of triplicate samples from 4 different experiments. Statistical analyses were performed by the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by uncorrected Dunn’s multiple-comparison test. ****, P < 0.0001; ***, P = 0.0001; **, P < 0.001. Black asterisks indicate the statistical significance between CFS-treated C.p. versus C.p. grown in MRS. Blue asterisks indicate the statistical significance between CFS-treated C.p. versus C.p. grown in MRS-HCl. (D) The viable fungal cells were counted by a hemocytometer after 24 h contact with the different CFS, MRS, or MRS-HCl. Trypan blue staining allowed to exclude nonviable cells. The graph reports the mean CFU ± SD from 6 different experiments. Statistical analyses were performed by the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by uncorrected Dunn’s multiple-comparison test. ***, P < 0.001; **, P < 0.01; *, P < 0.05. Asterisks indicate the statistical significance between CFS-treated C.p. versus C.p. grown in MRS. (E) CFS effect on C. parapsilosis pseudohyphae formation. Data in the graph are the mean % ± SD of 4 analyzed fields for each condition. The experiments were repeated 3 times. Statistical analyses were performed by an ordinary one-way ANOVA test followed by Dunnett’s multiple-comparison test. (F) CFS effect on C. parapsilosis capacity to adhere to vaginal epithelial cells monolayer. Data in the graph reports the mean % ± SD from at least 4 different experiments. Statistical analyses were performed by the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by uncorrected Dunn’s multiple-comparison test. *, P < 0.05 CFS-treated C.p. versus untreated C.p.