Effect of serum concentration on Candida biofilm formation on acrylic surfaces

The biofilm formation of the oral fungal pathogen Candida on denture acrylic strips coated with saliva, serum and, saliva/serum pellicle were examined in vitro using C. albicans (4 isolates), C. glabrata (3 isolates) and C. tropicalis (3 isolates). The degree of biofilm activity varied depending upon both the isolate and the pellicle. Thus as compared with the uncoated control, significantly increased biofilm activity on the pellicle (particularly serum)-coated strips, was observed with three isolates of C. albicans and another of C. glabrata on protein coated acrylics, with increasing concentration of serum in the pellicle (ANOVA; p0.05). In contrast, with all 3 isolates of C. tropicalis and a single isolate of C. glabrata, although the biofilm activity on the protein-free control strips was significantly higher than that of saliva-coated strips, the activity of pellicle admixed-biofilm was increased depending upon the serum-concentration. Taken together our in vitro findings that candidal biofilm formation on acrylic surfaces is essentially promoted with increase in the concentration of serum in pellicle, suggest that inflamation in the oral environment would facilitate the fungal colonization on denture acrylic