Figure 6

Viability of phagocytosed yeast forms of C. albicans by salivary and blood neutrophils from patients with denture stomatitis and controls. Saliva and blood samples from diseased (black and white squares) and control (black and white circles) elderly and young groups were collected and purified neutrophils were challenged with viable blastoconidia of C. albicans ATCC 10231 that had been opsonized (as described in the Material and Methods section). After 30 and 120 min, the percentage of salivary (A) and blood neutrophils (B) containing viable yeasts was determined through staining with acridine orange and counting of 10 random fields. The yeast cells were considered viable when they exhibited green coloration and dead when exhibited orange coloration. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM from each group, elderly (n = 14) and young (n = 14) patients or aged (n = 14) and young (n = 14) control subjects were analyzed individually. The results were evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test and the value of P was considered significant when < 0.01. Equal symbols indicate significant difference between the groups. Representative fluorescence micrographs of neutrophils phagocytosing C. albicans stained by acridine orange are demonstrated in C and D. The arrows label the green viable C. albicans and the orange dead C. albicans yeasts.