Neutral red assay in minimum fungicidal concentrations of antifungal agents

Abstract

We assayed the fungicidal effects of antifungal agents using neutral red staining. Fungal elements of Trichophyton mentagrophytes and T. rubrum were treated with various concentrations of antifungal agents in 96-well filtration plates and then stained with neutral red. The amount of neutral red incorporated by the surviving viable cells was determined from the automated spectrophotometric readings at 550 nm. The minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) of antifungal agents determined by this assay correlated well with those determined by conventional assay. This newly developed procedure should provide a rapid, reproducible, quantitative, qualitative and semi-automated susceptibility test for determination of the MFCs of the fungicidal agents.