Objective      To probe the effect of synthetic Musca domestica antifungal peptide-1A (MAF-1A) on the pathogenicity of Candida albicans.       Methods      Blastospore germination and germ tube formation of Candida albicans ATCC10231 were detected and fungal numbers of adherence to human buccal epithelial cells (BEC) in vitro were counted for yeast form and hyphal form of Candida albicans respectively using Wright’s staining after exposing to MIC concentration of MAF-1A

with fluconazole as positive control and PBS as negative control.       Results      Comparing with the controls

MAF-1A sig

nificantly decreased the blastospore germination and germ tube formation of Candida albicans (

P

0.05)

and reduced the numbers of both yeast form and hyphal form cells adhered to BEC

showing stronger inhibition effects on the yeast form cells than the hyphal form cells. The number of Candida albicans adhered to BEC in the MAF-1A pretreatment group was less than that in the MAF-1A intervention group (

P

0.05).       Conclusions      MAF-1A affects the pathogenicity of Candida albicans by inhibiting blastospore germination

germ tube formation and the adhesion ability to BEC.