TITLE:
Activity of Selected Essential Oils against Candida spp. strains. Evaluation of New Aspects of their Specific Pharmacological Properties, with Special Reference to Lemon Balm
AUTHORS:
Aleksandra Budzyńska, Beata Sadowska, Grażyna Lipowczan, Agnieszka Maciąg, Danuta Kalemba, Barbara Różalska
KEYWORDS:
Candida; Cell Wall Sensitivity; Essential Oils PAFE; Mutant Generation; Oxidative Stress Tolerance; Time-Killing
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.3 No.4,
July
18,
2013
ABSTRACT: The aim was
to investigate the antifungal effectiveness and some of pharmacological
properties of essential oils (EOs), which had not yet been thoroughly studied in the planned scope. We first evaluated MIC/MFC of
sixteen EOs against C. albicans ATCC
10231. Then, five most active EOs were tested, using 50 clinical Candida spp. strains and additional
reference C. albicans ATCC 90028
strain. The time-kill curve, carryover, post-antifungal effects (PAFE), mutant prevention
concentrations, the susceptibility of reference strains to the cell wall
disrupting agents and tolerance to oxidative stress, were evaluated. For these
detailed studies, we chose the following four essential oils. Clove oil,
Geranium oil, Lemon balm and Citronella oil, with MICs of 0.097% (v/v),
resulted concentration- and time-dependent killing and may be therapeutically safe, because they
do not generate resistance. The best one was Lemon balm, which caused most extended
PAFE, significantly reduced tolerance to oxidative stress and increased
susceptibility to Calcofluor White, Congo Red and SDS. Phytochemical analysis
of these four EOs has been performed and compared; looking for the reason that Lemon balm
was the best.