Abstract: Objective To develop a murine model of chromomycosis by using Cladosporium carrioni and explore the pathogenicity of Cladosporium carrionii in mice.Methods The suspension of Cladosporium carrioni was inoculated to two groups of mice, the immunocompetent mice and the immunosuppressed mice, by intraperitoneal route using 1ml inoculum containing 10⁸ conidia/mL.All mice were sacrificed 30 days after inoculation, and then macroscopic examination, his topathology and fungal culture were performed.Results The morbidity in both g roups was 100% according to the dark brown hyphae and sclerotic bodies found in histopathologic examination and fungal culture.Macroscopic examination found th at the adhesion among the internal organs in immunocompetent mice was more severe than that in immunosuppressed mice.Histopathologic sections showed that necro sis and inflammatory infiltration in immunocompetent mice were more obvious than those in immunosuppressed mice.Conclusions The virulence of Cladosporium carrionii strains is strong enough to construct experimental murine model of chromo mycosis, and animal passage of the strains is unnecessary.This murine model could be used to study the pathogenesis of chromomycosis.

Key words: Cladosporium, Chromoblastomycosis, Models,animal