E-Cigarettes Increase Candida albicans Growth and Modulate its Interaction with Gingival Epithelial Cells

Humidah Alanazi, Abdelhabib Semlali, Witold Chmielewski and Mahmoud Rouabhia
Additional contact information
Humidah Alanazi: Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, 2420 de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Abdelhabib Semlali: Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, 2420 de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Witold Chmielewski: Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, 2420 de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Mahmoud Rouabhia: Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, 2420 de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) vapor comes in contact with the different constituents of the oral cavity, including such microorganisms as Candida albicans . We examined the impact of e-cigarettes on C. albicans growth and expression of different virulent genes, such as secreted aspartic proteases ( SAPs ), and the effect of e-cigarette vapor-exposed C. albicans on gingival epithelial cell morphology, growth, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. An increase in C. albicans growth was observed with nicotine-rich e-cigarettes compared with non-exposed cultures. Following exposure to e-cigarette vapor, C. albicans produced high levels of chitin. E-cigarettes also increased C. albicans hyphal length and the expression of SAP2 , SAP3 , and SAP9 genes. When in contact with gingival epithelial cells, e-cigarette-exposed C. albicans adhered better to epithelial cells than the control. Indirect contact between e-cigarette-exposed C. albicans and gingival epithelial cells led to epithelial cell differentiation, reduced cell growth, and increased LDH activity. Overall, results indicate that e-cigarettes may interact with C. albicans to promote their pathogenesis, which may increase the risk of oral candidiasis in e-cigarette users.

Keywords: e-cigarettes; C. albicans; growth; SAP genes; epithelial cells; LDH (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/2/294/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/2/294/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:2:p:294-:d:199641

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().