During the spaceflight, a wide variety of microorganisms may be carried to the outer space by astronauts and aviation component. The yeast Candida albicans is an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for a variety of cutaneous and systemic human infections in human body, and the yeast cell itself could be affected by various stressful environmental factors including the weightless environment. We evaluated the effects of simulated microgravity on biological features of Candida albicans using the rotary cell culture system (RCCS). The growth curves of Candida albicans cultured in RCCS were recorded by spectrophotometer, the morphogenic switches were observed by optical microscope, and the viability of cells exposed to the various concentrations of fluconazole solution was assayed by flow cytometry at 7th, 14th and 21st day of experiment. The results showed that Candida albicans SC5314 under modeled microgravity were manifested as the growth curves leftward-shifted, lag phase shortened, along with logarithmic phase and stationary phase forwarded (P < 0.05). The simulated microgravity increased the growth rate and mycelia formation of Candida albicans. A statistically significant decrease in viability was detected in cells cultured for 7 d, 14 d and 21 d in group of simulated microgravity compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The increase of exposure time to simulate microgravity resulted in the decrease of viability of cells accordingly in same drug concentration compared with the control group. The study demonstrated that the three weeks' simulated microgravity in RCCS had a noticeable affect on the growth status of mycelia and spores and the morphogenic switches of Candida albicans, meanwhile, the yeast cells under simulated microgravity showed an increased antifungal susceptibility to fluconazole.
Keywords: Candida albicans; Simulated microgravity; drug susceptibility; fluconazole.