Flow chambers applied to the study of the initial adhesion process of Candida parapsilosis are rarely found in the literature. The ability of these microorganisms to proliferate and form biofilms in environments at temperatures around 22 or 37 degreesC is reflected in the contamination of laboratory instruments and material or in human implant infections, respectively. The initial interaction between yeasts and substrata is mediated by physicochemical forces, which in turn originate from the physicochemical surface properties of both interacting phases. In this context. this work aims to relate the initial rates of adhesion rates to glass and silicone of Candida parapsilosis, strains 294 and 289, grown at 22 and 37 degreesC with the theoretical predictions of the adhesion process, expressed by the interaction free energies and calculated through the physicochemical parameters. which are also measured at 22 and 37 degreesC. The results indicate that physicochemical parameters of yeasts are changed not only by the culture temperature but also by the measurement temperature; only when the measurement temperature is equal to the growth temperature a coherent relation between in vitro adhesion data and interaction free energies can be established. In this sense, the adhesion to glass is mediated by long-range forces or, what amounts to the same thing, by Lifshitz-van der Waals interaction free energy. On the other hand. the adhesion to silicone rubber seems to be moderated by acid-base interaction free energy, which involves the presence of short-range forces. Based on these results, it can be assumed that the substratum surface properties are directly related to the kind of force acting on the initial microbial adhesion process, while cell surface properties dictate the changes in the strength of the force between different samples. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.