Murine systemic candidiasis model

For the C. albicans infection in vivo, groups of C57BL/6 female mice or BALB/c female mice (6–8 weeks) were injected via lateral tail vein with 200 μl of a suspension containing indicated live C. albicans (5×10⁵ cells for C57BL/6 mice and 3×10⁵ cells for BALB/c mice) in sterile saline. Mice were monitored daily and were killed after 2 days or 5 days of infection. The kidneys and livers were removed, and then homogenized in 0.5 ml PBS for fungal burdens measurement or fixed in 10% neutral formalin for H&E and PAS staining. Supernatants of kidney and livers homogenates were harvested and stored at -80°C for the measurement of cytokine production.