1MM
El-Shikh, 1AA
Abou-Seada, 2MA Abdel-Nasser and 2MM
Sherif
1Regional Centre for Mycology
& Biotechnology; 2Department of Microbiology & Immunology,
Faculty of Medicine; Al-Azhar University.
Fungal chemotaxis, as a cornerstone phenomenon in
cell-mediated immunity, received little or no attention. The current study
aimed at investigating the chemotactic activity of Aspergillus niger,
Alternaria alternata and Syncephalastrum racemosum towards mononuclear and
polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes. The leukotactic index (LI) was measured and
expressed in mm
(Boyden technique) as well as the ratio of induced migraion/ spontaneous
migration (Nelson technique). Different concentrations of fungal mycelia with
or without normal serum were used in paralell to negative and positive
chemoattractants. The study revealed an inhibitory activity for the different
concentrations of A niger and A alternata
(LI <1 by Nelson technique and 26.8-38.8 mm by Boyden technique,
while S racemosum exhibited a stimulatory effect (LI >1 by Nelson technique
and 35.7-40.1 mm
by Boyden technique). Except for monocyte’s responses to S racemosum in Boyden
technique (p=0.01), no significant difference was found between the responses
of PMNs and that of monocytes or lymphocytes towards any of the fungal isolates
(P>0.5). Addition of serum, displayed more or less insignificant role in
mediating fungal chemotaxis. The results recorded via the two different
chemotaxis assays were almost identical confirming their validity.