%A Prasanna Honnavar
%A Arunaloke Chakrabarti
%A Ghandam S Prasad
%A Pankaj Singh
%A Sunil Dogra
%A Shivaprakash M Rudramurthy
%O copyright of this article belongs to OUP.
%J Medical mycology
%T ?-Endorphin enhances the phospholipase activity of the dandruff causing fungi Malassezia globosa and Malassezia restricta.
%X ?-Endorphin is known to stimulate phospholipase production by Malassezia pachydermatis during canine dermatoses. The role of ?-endorphin in Malassezia infection in humans is not well studied. The present study compares the influence of ?-endorphin on Malassezia globosa and Malassezia restricta isolated from patients with seborrhoeic dermatitis/dandruff (SD/D) and healthy controls. Malassezia isolates (five each of the two species from patients and healthy controls) were grown on modified Dixon's agar with or without 100?nmol/L ?-endorphin. Phospholipase activity was quantified based on its ability to hydrolyze L-?-phosphatidylcholine dimyristoyl (phospholipid substrate). Free fatty acid was measured by a colorimetry method. In isolates from patients, the phospholipase activity significantly increased after exposure to ?-endorphin (M. globosa, P = .04; M. restricta, P = .001), which did not occur in isolates from healthy controls. Moreover, after ?-endorphin exposure the patient isolates had significantly higher (P = .0004) phospholipase activity compared to the healthy control isolates. The results suggest that isolates of M. globosa and M. restricta from patients may differ from those of healthy humans.
%K Malassezia, dandruff; phospholipase activity; ?-endorphin
%D 2016
%I OUP
%L open1873