Effects of Chitosan on Candida albicans: Conditions for Its Antifungal Activity

Table 1

Kinetic constants of ⁸⁶Rb⁺ uptake; effect of chitosan on the strain C. albicans ATCC 10231. Uptake of ⁸⁶Rb⁺ was measured incubating 12.5 mg of starved cells in 10 mM MES-TEA, pH 6.0, and 20 mM glucose, 0.5 mL final volume, in the absence or presence of chitosan, 20 μg·mL⁻¹ plus the indicated amounts of chitosan in a water bath at 30°C. After 2 min, 0.1 to 0.6 mM of ⁸⁶RbCl was added. After two more minutes, aliquots of 0.1 mL were taken which were filtered through a 0.25 μm nitrocellulose filter and washed twice with 0.5 mL of 10 mM CaCl₂. The filters were then dried and placed in vials with scintillation liquid and counted in a Beckman scintillation counter (𝑛 = 7).

	Km, mM	𝑉max, μEq⋅g^−1 in 2 min
Control	0.41 ± 0.08	8.7 ± 1.24
Chitosan	2.30 ± 0.05	8.9 ± 3.8