Atividade imunoestimulante da β-1,3 glucana em candidíase vulvovaginal experimental

Abstract

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is an inflammatory disease, on vaginal tissue, caused mainly by pathogenic yeasts of Candida albicans. And actually, VVC is currently a significant problem in women's health. The β-glucans are structural polysaccharides of the cell wall of the fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae and there are several reports that demonstrate the immunomodulatory effect this structure in infections of bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic. Knowing this, the present study evaluated whether β- glucan has immunomodulatory activity in mice with vulvovaginal candidiasis under the influence of estrogen. The animals were inoculated with C. albicans, intravaginally, and treated with glucan, vaginally and intraperitoneally, and the control group animals received saline, intraperitoneally. The animals treated with intraperitoneal and vaginal glucan showed smaller number of the CFU, in the vaginal fluid, compared with control animals. However the results more marked was of the intraperitonel, confirmed with histopathological, but in neither case the results were statistically significant. Relative to influx of the polymorphonuclear neutrophilis (PMNs), the groups treated with glucan showed greater infiltration. Moreover, it was observed that animals treated with glucan showed a higher quantity of IFN-γ, in vaginal washed, compared with the control. The data suggest that glucan may have an important activity in protection against C. albicans.