ORIGINAL PAPER
Occurrence of fungi and cytotoxicity of the species: Aspergillus ochraceus,
Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus isolated from the air of hospital wards
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1
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
(Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Nursing and Midwifery, Department of Nursing Management
and Epidemiology Nursing)
2
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
(Faculty of Health Sciences, Chair of Microbiology, Department of Mycology)
3
Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
(Faculty of Natural Sciences, Institute of Experimental Biology, Department of Physiology and Toxicology)
Online publication date: 2017-02-13
Corresponding author
Agnieszka Gniadek
Jagiellonian University Medical College, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Nursing and Midwifery, Department of Nursing
Management and Epidemiology Nursing, Kopernika 25, 31-005 Kraków, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2017;30(2):231-9
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: The basic care requirement for patients with weakened immune systems is to create the environment where
the risk of mycosis is reduced to a minimum. Material and Methods: Between 2007 and 2013 air samples were collected
from various wards of a number of hospitals in Kraków, Poland, by means of the collision method using MAS-100 Iso MH
Microbial Air Sampler (Merck Millipore, Germany). The air mycobiota contained several species of fungi, and almost 1/3 of
it was made up of the species of the Aspergillus genus. Sixty-one strains of species other than A. fumigatus were selected for
the research purposes, namely: 28 strains of A. ochraceus, 22 strains of A. niger and 11 strains of A. flavus species. Selected
fungi underwent a cytotoxicity evaluation with the application of the MTT colorimetric assay (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-
diphenyltetrazolium
bromide). The assay assesses cell viability by means of reducing the yellow tetrazolium salt to insoluble
formazan. A semi-quantitative scale for cytotoxicity grading was adopted: low cytotoxic effect (+) with half maximal inhibitory
concentration (IC50) for values ranging from 31.251 cm2/ml to 7.813 cm2/ml, medium cytotoxic effect (++) for values ranging
from 3.906 cm2/ml to 0.977 cm2/ml and the high one (+++) for values ranging from 0.488 cm2/ml to 0.061 cm2/ml. The absence
of cytotoxicity was determined when the IC50 values was at ≥ 50. Results: For 48 samples the analyzed fungi displayed the cytotoxic
effect with A. ochraceus in 26 out of 28 cases, with 11 strains displaying the high cytotoxic effect. The lowest cytotoxicity
was displayed by fungi of A. niger in 13 out of 22 cases, and the major fungi of A. flavus species were toxic (9 out of 11 cases). Conclusions: A half of the fungi displayed the low cytotoxic effect. On the basis of the comparison of average cytotoxicity levels
it was determined that there were significant differences in the levels of cytotoxicity of the analyzed fungi. However, such
statement may not provide grounds for a definite conclusion about the compared species of fungi that display a more cytotoxic
effect than others. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(2):231–239