SIMPLE TESTS DEMONSTRATING THE ANTIMYCOTIC EFFECT OF CHITOSAN

We show that under the conditions of a fungal growth test, 66% deacetylated krill chitosan did not affect pathogenic fungi which cause human mycosis. However, as demonstrated by our fungal cell adherence test, chitosan not only inhibited the adhesion of Candida albicans cells to human vaginal epithelial cells or to HeLa cells, but also acted non-specifically on fungal and epithelial cells. This explained our earlier observations of the enhancement of therapeutic efficacy of anti-fungal formulations, to which chitosan had been added. We recommend the joint use of fungal growth and fungal cell adherence tests as a generally useful, economical and readily available method for assessing the activity of anti-fungal preparations.