The objective of the work was to induce experimental infection with the anthropophil dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum in animals and to confirm it by clinical, mycological and histopathological examination. For preparation of the inoculum the authors used a T. rubrum culture isolated from patients suffering from dermatomycosis. The inoculum was cultivated under conditions of intensive aeration (shaking). Its density was 2.0 x 10(6)/ml of germinative spores and hyphal fragments. On the animal's back shoved and irritated by scarification (area 4 cm2) 2 ml inoculum were rubbed in. Experimental mycotic infection was induced in one of four guinea pigs and one of two domestic rabbits. The first clinical manifestations of mycotic infection were found on the 6th and 9th day after inoculation. From the focus T. rubrum was cultivated. From the unaffected hair in the close vicinity and at more remote sites numerous contaminants were isolated, other fungi as well as dermatophytes. In the histopathological material the authors found in the shed layers of the stratum corneum PAS positive septate fibres. Numerous PAS positive septate fibres were found also in the hair follicles. In the corium a mixed inflammatory infiltration was present with a predominance of histiocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. No morphological changes were found after passaging the dermatophyte T. rubrum via animals. Guinea pigs and the domestic rabbit are useful animals for inducing experimental infection with the dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum.

1 dermatovenerologická klinika Lekárskej fakulty Univerzity Komenského Bratislava