RESEARCH ARTICLE
Whole Saliva has a Dual Role on the Adherence of Candida albicans to Polymethylmetacrylate
N Elguezabal1, J.L. Maza2, S. Dorronsoro3, J. Pontón4, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 1
Last Page: 4
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-2-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874210600802010001
Article History:
Received Date: 21/11/2007Acceptance Date: 12/12/2007
Electronic publication date: 8/1/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Adhesion of Candida albicans to acrylic of dental prostheses or to salivary macromolecules adsorbed on their surface is believed to be a critical event in the development of denture stomatitis. In previous studies our group has shown that adhesion of C. albicans germ tubes to polystyrene is decreased by saliva whereas C. albicans yeast cells adhesion to the same material is enhanced. The results presented in this study confirm this dual role played by whole saliva, since it decreased the adhesion of germ tubes but increased the adhesion of yeast cells to polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA). These effects mediated by whole saliva do not seem to be related to an inhibition of the germination of C. albicans, since similar levels of filamentation were observed in presence and absence of saliva. These results may give new insights into the conflicting role of saliva in the adhesion of C. albicans to acrylic resins of dental prostheses.