INFLUENCE OF LYSOZYME AND SALIVA ON ADHESION PROPERTIES OF C.albicans, ISOLATED FROM THE ORAL CAVITY, IN VITRO EXPERIMENTS

Adhesion of Candida on human cells initiates a process of colonization of the microorganisms, which affects a number of factors and requires specific studies. Aim of research is a comparative study of the adhesive properties of C.albicans, isolated from the oral cavity of healthy individuals versus individuals with inflammatory processes of the mouth (stomatitis and caries), and determining the influence of lysozyme and saliva on the adhesion of fungi to human buccal epitheliocytes. Material and Methods. Adhesive properties of cultures were examined by their ability for adhesions on human buccal epithelium. We determined average grandstanding of adhesion, coefficient of participation in epithelial cell adhesion process, the index of adhesion by microorganism. For adhesion studies, 7 strains of C.albicans, isolated from the oral cavity of healthy individuals at concentrations of 101-102 CFU/ml and 7 strains of C. albicans, isolated in patients with inflammatory processes of the mouth (stomatitis, gingivitis, combined with caries) at a concentration of 105-107 CFU/ ml were selected. Levels of lysozyme in saliva were determined by agar diffusion. To study the impact of saliva and lysozyme on the adhesion of Candida to epithelial cells, a highly adhesive C.albicans strain isolated from the oral cavity of patients with caries and stomatitis was selected. Results and Discussion. Studies of C.albicans, isolated from the oral cavity, found a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in the adhesive activity when comparing the mean values of parameters AIA (2,44±0,15) and IAM (3,28±0,19) in the group of healthy subjects and in patients AIA (7,11±0,25) and IAM (8,49±0,28). In all experiments, the group with high (2,76±0,67 mg/ml) and the low (0,72±0,07 mg/ml) lysozyme activity of saliva, the interaction of various factors on C.albicans (saliva, lysozyme) found unidirectional significant (p<0.05) reduction in adhesion performance of fungi. Thus, based on the data obtained, it can be argued that saliva has a marked effect of in the anti adhesive system "C.albicans - buccal epithelial cells", reducing the adhesive activity of fungi and thereby prevents attachment and active multiplication of C.albicans on the oral mucosa. Part of the antiadhesive potential of saliva belongs to lysozyme. Conclusions. It was found that all strains of C.albicans isolated in inflammatory processes in the oral cavity are characterized by high adhesiveness that provides their proliferation, compared with C. albicans isolated in healthy individuals, for which mainly medium and low adhesive activity was determined, which is insufficient for their proliferation and causes their seeding in small quantities. A significant effect of lysozyme on the adhesiveness of C.albicans is the evidence of its important role in the local nonspecific immunity, which affects the representatives of normal microbiota. It is necessary to consider the influence of internal and external factors on the process of salivation as an important physiological defense mechanism that prevents candidiasis and other pathological conditions of the oral cavity. Key words: Candida albicans, buccal epithelial cells, saliva, lysozyme