Quantitative Bioassays for Miconazole with Candida albicans as the Indicator Organism

Abstract

Several reliable methods for bioassay for miconazole in serum or other clinical specimens employing Candida albicans as the indicator organism are described. The well agar plate method with Yeast Morphology Agar was sensitive to 1μg of drug per ml and linear from 1 to equal to or greater than 16μg per ml. The disc agar plate method was much more sensitive, by which 0.06μg of miconazole per disc was quantitatively measurable. The bioautographic method was the most sensitive; the lower limit of the assay was as low as 0.002μg of drug per sample applied. In the latter two methods, Yeast Morphology Agar was used as the assay medium and serum specimens were extracted with cyclohexane or ethyl ether for assay.