ABSTRACT
The polyene antibiotic amphotericin B (AmB) remains, forty years after its discovery, the "golden standard" for the treatment of candidosis. The selectivity of AmB for fungal cells is due to the higher affinity of AmB for ergosterol containing membranes. In contrast, some methods are perfectly suited to study the AmB-lipid interaction in liposomal formulations. The methods of choice to probe any impairment of the overall organization of a membrane upon drug incorporation are differential scanning calorimetry and nuclear magnetic resonance. However, one must emphasize that such a mechanism can occur only when the molar ratio of the drug with respect to the phospholipid is at least a few mol %. The methods used to probe any alteration in the membrane permeability also depend on the nature of the membranes. Finally, the possibility that AmB may be internalized in Candida has not been explored, although it could have a negligible role in the activity of the drug.
