Surface Architecture Influences the Rigidity of <i>Candida albicans</i> Cells

oleh: Phuc H. Le, Duy H. K. Nguyen, Arturo Aburto Medina, Denver P. Linklater, Christian Loebbe, Russell J. Crawford, Shane MacLaughlin, Elena P. Ivanova

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-02-01

Deskripsi

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to investigate the morphology and rigidity of the opportunistic pathogenic yeast, <i>Candida albicans</i> ATCC 10231, during its attachment to surfaces of three levels of nanoscale surface roughness. Non-polished titanium (npTi), polished titanium (pTi), and glass with respective average surface roughness (<i>S<sub>a</sub></i>) values of 389 nm, 14 nm, and 2 nm, kurtosis (<i>S</i><sub>kur</sub>) values of 4, 16, and 4, and skewness (<i>S</i><sub>skw</sub>) values of 1, 4, and 1 were used as representative examples of each type of nanoarchitecture. Thus, npTi and glass surfaces exhibited similar <i>S</i><sub>skw</sub> and <i>S</i><sub>kur</sub> values but highly disparate <i>S</i><sub>a</sub>. <i>C. albicans</i> cells that had attached to the pTi surfaces exhibited a twofold increase in rigidity of 364 kPa compared to those yeast cells attached to the surfaces of npTi (164 kPa) and glass (185 kPa). The increased rigidity of the <i>C. albicans</i> cells on pTi was accompanied by a distinct round morphology, condensed F-actin distribution, lack of cortical actin patches, and the negligible production of cell-associated polymeric substances; however, an elevated production of loose extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was observed. The differences in the physical response of <i>C. albicans</i> cells attached to the three surfaces suggested that the surface nanoarchitecture (characterized by skewness and kurtosis), rather than average surface roughness, could directly influence the rigidity of the <i>C. albicans</i> cells. This work contributes to the next-generation design of antifungal surfaces by exploiting <i>surface architecture</i> to control the extent of biofilm formation undertaken by yeast pathogens and highlights the importance of performing a detailed surface roughness characterization in order to identify and discriminate between the surface characteristics that may influence the extent of cell attachment and the subsequent behavior of the attached cells.