Evaluation of Malassezia furfur Biofilm Formation on Polypropylene Membrane

Abstract

The Malassezia yeast species colonize on the skin immediately after birth and could be found on the healthy skin flora for life. Although they are more frequently involved in the etiology of common skin infections in the community, particularly Malassezia furfur could cause life-threatening infections such as fungemia. Detection of biofilm during the colonization of these yeasts on the skin is an important criterion for its virulence. Since they are lipophilic yeasts, commonly used biofilm detection methods are not applicable to the Malassezia strains. The aim of the study was to describe the growth and measurement of M.furfur isolates on a polypropylene membrane to demonstrate their biofilm-forming capacities. Twenty-seven M.furfur strains colonized in the newborns were included in the study. Basically, sterile polypropylene membranes were placed on different polysorbates (tween 20, 40, and 80) which were spread on Sabouraud dextrose agar. Ten µl saline suspension of M.furfur was dropped on the polypropylene membrane and incubated in standard growth conditions for three days. Later, the visible colony was removed gently by washing with running water and the biofilm structure formed on the membrane was stained with safranin. The stained biofilm was photographed. Performing image analysis, the values obtained against background activity were digitized according to the specified protocol. Moreover, XTT reduction test was performed and the measured metabolic activity results were compared with the safranin-stained biofilm data. The safranin hydrolysis of the strains was measured spectrometrically. Twenty-five (92.6%) of the strains included in the study were stained with safranin, which indicated the presence of biofilm on the polypropylene membrane. The strains grown with tween 20 and tween 80 formed a higher biofilm layer density than those supplied with tween 40. Isolates with low and high biofilm-forming capacity were clearly separated by tween 20 (p< 0.05). XTT activity was detected in 26 (96.3%) isolates. No correlation was found between biofilm density obtained by the described method and XTT reduction. It was observed that hydrolysis of safranin did not affect the biofilm evaluation method. In this study, it was shown that as a result of sufficient diffusion through hydrophobic membranes, polysorbate-based growth factors could maintain measurement of the biofilm layer formed by lipophilic M.furfur strains. The best grouping properties for M.furfur were obtained with tween 20 which could determine low and high level of biofilm formation. Image analysis was used with high performance for this method. As conclusion, the utilization of different hydrophobic membranes and dyes would lead to the development of new techniques for the application in other lipophilic yeasts.