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Trichophyton rubrum infections according to age, anatomical distribution and sex

Trichophyton rubrum caused 79.2% of the cases of dermatophytosis observed in a sample of caucasoids from Philadelphia. Tinea pedis was found in 84% of the female and male patients with dermatophytosis. Tinea manuum occurred with equal frequency in both sexes whereas tinea unguium was more prevalent in females. Tinea cruris occurred almost exclusively in males. Infections of two or more anatomical sites were observed more frequently in males. The data are compared with those reported by Rosman (1966) from a similar study done in Copenhagen.

Mycetoma formation in Trichophyton rubrum infection.

An adult male patient with a chronic Trichophyton rubrum infection of the feet, toe nails and groin, for 15 years, developed on the dorsum of the right foot a tumour with draining sinuses. Histological examination of tissue from the growth revealed granulomatous inflammation with abscesses containing granules characteristic of mycetoma. T. rubrum was cultured from skin scrapings and toe nails. The concurrent complete clearing of the superficial lesions and the mycetoma during treatment with griseofulvin, as well as the disappearance of complement fixing antibodies against T. rubrum antigen, indicate that this hitherto unreported complication of a dermatophyte infection may be related and may not be coincidental to the infection.

Keratinases: Hydrolysis of keratinous substrates by three enzymes of Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Drei Keratinasen die von einem zoophilen Dermatophyten,Trichophyton mentagrophytes, isoliert wurden, haben eine ausgeprägtere hydrolytische Wirkung auf Keratine tierischen Ursprungs als solche menschlicher Herkunft.

Antibodies with Affinity for Epithelial Tissue in Chronic Dermatophytosis

Antibodies to dermatophytes which also had affinity for intercellular material of epithelial tissue, were detected in sera from 80% of patients with chronic dermatophytosis using an indirect fluorescent antibody test. The class of immunoglobulins reactive with both the dermatophyte and the epithelial tissue was identified as IgM. IgM antibodies with affinity for arthrospores of Trichophyton mentagrophytes and intercellular substance of epithelial tissue could be removed from sera with mycelium of Trichophyton rubrum.

Inhibition of keratinases byα2-Macroglobulin

Sera von Patienten mit Dermatophytosis und von Gesunden (Säugline und Erwachsene) hemmten die Keratinasen vonTrichophyton mentagrophytes. Der Inhibitor wurde von Neugeborenen-Serum isoliert und als α2-Makroglobulin identifiziert.

Effect of antibodies on growth and structure of Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Growth of Trichophyton mentagrophytes from infected skin and hair was completely inhibited on a test medium containing antibody γ-globulin produced in rabbits to autoclaved mycelium. When microconidia from cultures maintained on Sabourauds glucose agar (SGA) were used as inoculum, growth was only inhibited after incubation of the microconidia with antibody γ-glubulin at 37°C. At subinhibitory concentrations of antibody γ-globulin, structural changes were produced in cultures initiated by both types of inoculum. These structural changes consisted of a decrease in sporulation, a complete loss or distortion of macroconidia, and an increase in the width of hyphae.On test medium containing antibody γ-globulin to an extracellular keratinase, similar structural changes and retardation of growth initiated by both clinical specimens and microconidia were observed.Guinea-pig serum complement was not fungicidal for microconidia incubated with antibody γ-globulin at 37°C. On the contrary, the growth initiated by pre...

Macroconidia of Trichophyton schoenleinii

Macroconidia of Trichophyton schoenleinii were readily produced when cultures were prepared by using inocula previously treated with antibodies.

On the mechanism of action of griseofulvin in dermatophytosis

Guinea pig hair absorbed or adsorbed with griseofulvin was less efficiently hydrolyzed by the extracellular and cell-bound keratinases of Trichophyton mentagrophytes than untreated control hair. The same observations were made using hair from guinea pigs treated orally with griseofulvin. This antibiotic and 3 related compounds had no effect on the active sites of the keratinases. The results of these studies support the hypothesis that resistance to dermatophytic attack is the result of griseofulvin incorporation into keratinous structures causing substrate modification.