Susceptibility of Candida Albicans and Candida Non-Albicans Strains to Essential Oils
Alessandro Leite Cavalcanti1, Yêska Paola Costa Aguiar1, Fábio Gomes Dos Santos1, Alidianne Fabia Cabral Cavalcanti1 and Ricardo Dias De Castro21School of Dentistry, State University of Paraiba, Campina Grande, Brazil.
2School of Dentistry, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.
Corresponding Author E-mail: dralessandro@ibest.com.br
Abstract: Candida albicans is the most prevalent species in fungal infections. Substances contained in plants may have effects similar to synthetic drugs against pathogenic microorganisms. The essential oils (EO) of five plants (Cymbopogon winterianus, Mentha arvensis, Pimpinella anisum, Eucalyptus citriodora and Baccharis trimera) were tested against standard Candida albicans, C. tropicalis and C. krusei strains. The antifungal activity was determined based on the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicide Concentration (MFC) performed by the microdilution method using 96-well microplates and sowing in Petri dishes, respectively. EOs presented antifungal activity, with MIC between 625 and 10,000μg / mL, especially EO obtained from Cymbopogon winterianus, which presented better performance, representing a potential natural product with anti-Candida activity.
Keywords: Candida Albicans; Plants; Medicinal; Phytotherapy Back to TOC