Application of Polarizing Microscopy to Medical Mycology |
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| Authors: | Roger M. Kilton |
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| Abstract: | The hyphae of 15 species of fungi were cultivated by conventional slide-culture technique and then examined by polarizing microscopy. Extinction angles exhibited by the anisotropic chitin in the cell walls of hyphae were, as a rule, measurable within a minimal growth range of 2 to 3 days after inoculation to slide culture. Of the 15 species examined, 8 saprophytic fungi were found to possess a range of common extinction angles (10° ± 2°). The remaining seven organisms implicated as pathogens were found to possess a range of common extinction angles (20° ± 2°). There appears to be a correlation existing between the pathogenic nature of the examined fungi and their extinction angles, as demonstrated by the polarizing microscope. |
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