Abstract
Candidiasis therapy, especially for candidiasis caused by Candida non-albicans species, is limited by the relatively reduced number of antifungal drugs and the emergence of antifungal tolerance. This study evaluates the anticandidal activity of 41 plant-derived products against Candida species, in both planktonic and biofilm cells. This study also evaluates the toxicity and the therapeutic action of the most active compounds by using the Caenorhabditis elegans–Candida model. The planktonic cells were cultured with various concentrations of the tested agents. The Cupressus sempervirens, Citrus limon, and Litsea cubeba essential oils as well as gallic acid were the most active anticandidal compounds. Candida cell re-growth after treatment with these agents for 48 h demonstrated that the L. cubeba essential oil and gallic acid displayed fungistatic activity, whereas the C. limon and C. sempervirens essential oils exhibited fungicidal activity. The C. sempervirens essential oil was not toxic and increased the survival of C. elegans worms infected with C. glabrata or C. orthopsilosis. All the plant-derived products assayed at 250 µg/mL affected C. krusei biofilms. The tested plant-derived products proved to be potential therapeutic agents against Candida, especially Candida non-albicans species, and should be considered when developing new anticandidal agents.
Highlights
Infections caused by yeasts belonging to the genus Candida affect especially immunocompromised individuals, children, elderly, individuals hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU), and users of invasive devices [1]
Forty-one plant-derived products were tested against six Candida species (Table 1)
Among the tested essential oils (EOs, 30 samples), the Cupressus sempervirens EO presented the best result; it acted against all the Candida species
Summary
Infections caused by yeasts belonging to the genus Candida affect especially immunocompromised individuals, children, elderly, individuals hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU), and users of invasive devices [1]. Factors such as the use of immunosuppressive drugs, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and antifungal agents for prophylaxis have increased the number of patients that are susceptible to opportunistic diseases, including candidiasis, candidiasis caused by non-albicans Candida (NAC) species such as C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, and, more recently, C. auris [4]. Depending on the microenvironment’s nutritional content, micro-organisms, including Candida, can grow in the planktonic or the biofilm form. The biofilm is represented by aggregated, organized, and functional micro-organisms embedded in an exopolymeric matrix, which allows irreversible adhesion to biotic or abiotic surfaces [5]. Microbial biofilms are the main cause of hospital infections and the source of many recurrent and persistent diseases [4,5]. NAC species leading to infections, including species that may be resistant to more than one class of antifungal agents, have contributed to increasing the intrinsic or acquired resistance of Candida isolates to antifungal drugs [4,5]
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