| Summary: | Bloodstream infection with <i>Candida</i> fungal cells remains one of the most life-threatening complications among hospitalized patients around the world. Although most of the cases are still due to <i>Candida albicans</i>, the rising incidence of infections caused by other <i>Candida </i>strains that may not respond to traditional anti-fungal treatments merits the development of a method for species-specific isolation of <i>Candida</i>. To this end, here we present the characterization of the dielectrophoresis (DEP) response of <i>Candida albicans</i>, <i>Candida tropicalis </i>and <i>Candida parapsilosis.</i> We complement such characterization with a study of the <i>Candida</i> cells morphology. The <i>Candida </i>strains exhibited subtle differences in their morphology and dimensions. All the <i>Candida </i>strains exhibited positive DEP in the range 10−500 kHz, although the strength of the DEP response was different for each <i>Candida </i>strain at different frequencies. Only <i>Candida tropicalis</i> showed positive DEP at 750 kHz. The current results show potential for manipulation and enrichment of a specific <i>Candida </i>strain at specific DEP conditions towards aiding in the rapid identification of <i>Candida </i>strains to enable the effective and timely treatment of <i>Candida </i>infections.
|
|---|