Fungal microbiota of isogenic and congenic strains on mice in aninal holding rooms

Abstract

With the development of laboratory animal housing and care technology, where animals are kept under various different schemes according to specific purposes, an appropriate evaluation of the microbiota of the environment and of the animals is important. The occurrence of fungi was studied in the fur coat of 95 mice (47 males and 48 females) aging between 37 and 55 days of the following strains: isogenic (A/Sn (10), BALB/c (16), CBA (15), CS7BL/10J (10) and congenic (B10.A (14), B10 D2/o (15) e B1 .02/n (15). The material was collected frictioning a small piece of sterilized carpet in all the extension of the mouse corporal region. Sabouraud-dextrose agar plus chloramphenicol (100 µ g/ml) and “Mycobiotic agar” were used. The first medium presented a greater number of isolations (224) than the second (61). The isolation frequencies where the following: Penicillium sp (93,68%) , Trichoderme sp (92,63%), Cladosporium sp (38,95%), Torulopsis sp (7,37%), Rhizopus sp (4,21%), Aureobasidium sp (3,16%), Absidia sp (1,05%), Aspergillus sp (1,05%), Mycellia sterilla (1,05%), Trichotecium sp (1,05%), Candida sp (1,05%) e Rhodotorula sp (1,05%). A great number of fungi genera was isolated from isogenic strains and from female mice. These results were statistically significant (p=0,05) in the signals test. The fungi isolated from the housing rooms belong to the following genera: Absidia, Aureobasidium, Cladosporium, Cephalosporium, Epicoccum, Geotrichum , Mycelia sterilia, Penicillium e Trichoderma. No pathogenic fungi were found in the mice strains or in the housing rooms studies.