Postantifungal effect of caspofungin against the Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis clades

• Caspofungin exhibits a significant and prolonged postantifungal effect against Candida albicans clade.
• Postantifungal effect against Candida albicans clade is significantly higher than for Candida parapsilosis clade.
• Caspofungin was fungicidal against Candida albicans, Candida dubliniensis and Candida metapsilosis.

Killing and postantifungal effects could be relevant for the selection of optimal dosing schedules. This study aims to compare time-kill and postantifungal effects with caspofungin on Candida albicans (C. albicans, Candida dubliniensis, Candida africana) and Candida parapsilosis (C. parapsilosis, Candida metapsilosis, Candida orthopsilosis) clades. In the postantifungal effect experiments, strains were exposed to caspofungin for 1 h at concentrations 0.12–8 μg/mL. Time-kill experiments were conducted at the same concentrations. Caspofungin exhibited a significant and prolonged postantifungal effect (>37 h) with 2 μg/mL against the most strains of C. albicans clade. Against the C. parapsilosis clade, the postantifungal effect was <12 h at 8 μg/mL, except for two strains. Caspofungin was fungicidal against C. albicans, C. dubliniensis and C. metapsilosis.