1887

Abstract

The species is a group of opportunistic pathogenic commensals in immune-compromised patients. Treatment of infections is becoming increasingly difficult due to antifungal drug resistance, especially with fluconazole (FLC), which is a commonly used azole. In the present study the antifungal activity of eugenol (EUG) and methyleugenol (MEUG) alone and in combination against 64 FLC-sensitive and 34 FLC-resistant clinical isolates is highlighted. All the strains were susceptible to both the naturally occurring phenyl propanoids. The nature of the interaction was studied from fractional inhibitory concentration indices (FICIs) for both EUG plus FLC, and MEUG plus FLC combinations calculated from chequerboard microdilution assays. FICI values depicted a high synergism of FLC with both compounds, which was greatest with MEUG. FLC-resistant isolates showed high sensitivity to both compounds. No antagonistic activity was seen in the strains tested in the present study. From these results we suggest that EUG and MEUG have great potential as antifungals, and that FLC can be supplemented with EUG and MEUG to treat FLC-resistant infections.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.020693-0
2010-10-01
2024-11-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/jmm/59/10/1178.html?itemId=/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.020693-0&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Ahmad A., Khan A., Manzoor N., Khan L. A. 2010; Evolution of ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors as fungicidal against Candida . Microb Pathog 48:35–41 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Arif T., Bhosale J. D., Kumar N., Mandal T. K., Bendre R. S., Lavekar G. S., Dabur R. J. 2009; Natural products – antifungal agents derived from plants. J Asian Nat Prod Res 11:621–638 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Berenbaum M. C. 1989; What is synergy?. Pharmacol Rev 41:93–141
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Braga P. C., Sasso M. D., Culici M., Alfieri M. 2007; Eugenol and thymol, alone or in combination, induce morphological alterations in the envelope of Candida albicans . Fitoterapia 78:396–400 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Brammer K. W., Farrow P. R., Faulkner J. K. 1990; Pharmacokinetics and tissue penetration of fluconazole in humans. Rev Infect Dis 12:S318–S326 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Cantón E., Pemán J., Gobernado M., Viudes A., Espinel I. A. 2005; Synergistic activities of fluconazole and voriconazole with terbinafine against four Candida species determined by checkerboard, time-kill, and Etest methods. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 49:1593–1596 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Chakrabarti A., Chatterjee S. S., Rao K. L., Zameer M. M., Shivaprakash M. R., Singhi S., Singh R., Varma S. C. 2009; Recent experience with fungaemia: change in species distribution and azole resistance. Scand J Infect Dis 41:275–284 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  8. CLSI 2002 Reference Method for Broth Dilution Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of Yeasts , approved standard M27–A2 Wayne, PA: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute;
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Cowan M. M. 1999; Plant products as antimicrobial agents. Clin Microbiol Rev 12:564–582
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Eggimann P., Garbino J., Pitte D. 2003; Epidemiology of Candida species infections in critically ill non-immunosuppressed patients. Lancet Infect Dis 3:685–702 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Filler S. G., Sheppard D. C. 2006; Fungal invasion of normally non-phagocytic host cells. PLoS Pathog 2:e129 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Ghannoum M. A., Fu Y., Ibrahim A. S., Mortara L. A., Shafiq M. C., Edwards J. E. Jr, Criddle R. S. 1995; In vitro determination of optimal antifungal combinations against Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans . Antimicrob Agents Chemother 39:2459–2465 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Guo N., Liu J., Wu X., Bi X., Meng R., Wang X., Xiang H., Deng X., Yu L. 2009; Antifungal activity of thymol against clinical isolates of fluconazole-sensitive and resistant Candida albicans . J Med Microbiol 58:1074–1079 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Hadizadeh I., Peivastegan B., Hamzehzarghani H. 2009; Antifungal activity of essential oils from some medicinal plants of Iran against Alternaria alternate . Am J Appl Sci 6:857–861 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Khan A., Ahmad A., Manzoor N., Khan L. A. 2010; Antifungal activities of Ocimum sanctum essential oil and its lead molecules. Nat Prod Commun 5:345–349
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Koehler A. P., Chu K. C., Houang E. T., Cheng A. F. 1999; Simple, reliable and cost effective yeast identification scheme for the clinical laboratory. J Clin Microbiol 37:422–426
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Mukherjee P. K., Sheehan D. J., Hitchcock C. A., Ghannoum M. A. 2005; Combination treatment of invasive fungal infections. Clin Microbiol Rev 18:163–194 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Onyewu C., Blankenship J. R., Del Poeta M., Heitman J. 2003; Ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors become fungicidal when combined with calcineurin inhibitors against Candida albicans , Candida glabrata , and Candida krusei . Antimicrob Agents Chemother 47:956–964 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Pina-Vaz C., Gonçalves Rodrigues A., Pinto E., Costa-de-Oliveira S., Tavares C., Salgueiro L., Cavaleiro C., Gonçalves M. J., Martinez-de-Oliveira J. 2004; Antifungal activity of Thymus oils and their major compounds. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venerol 18:73–78 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Pinto E., Pina-Vaz C., Salgueiro L., Goncalves M. J., Costa-de-Oliveira S., Cavaleiro C., Palmeira A., Rodrigues A., Martinez-de-Oliveira J. 2006; Antifungal activity of the essential oil of Thymus pulegioides on Candida , Aspergillus and dermatophyte species. J Med Microbiol 55:1367–1373 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Pinto E., Vale-Silva L., Cavaleiro C., Salgueiro L. 2009; Antifungal activity of clove essential oil from Syzygium aromaticum on Candida , Aspergillus and dermatophyte species. J Med Microbiol 58:1454–1462 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Rosato A., Viali C., Gallo D., Millillo M. A., Mallamaci R. 2008; The inhibition of Candida species by selected oils and their synergism with amphotericin B. Phytomedicine 15:635–638 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Rosato A., Vitali C., Piarulli M., Mazzotta M., Argentieri M. P., Mallamaci R. 2009; In vitro synergic efficacy of the combination of Nystatin with the essential oils of Origanum vulgare and Pelargonium graveolens against some Candida species. Phytomedicine 16:972–975 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Sanglard D., Ischer F., Parkinson T., Falconer D., Bille J. 2003; Candida albicans mutations in the ergosterol biosynthetic pathway and resistance to several antifungal agents. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 47:2404–2412 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Shin S., Pyun M. S. 2004; Anti- Candida effects of estragole in combination with ketoconazole or amphotericin B. Phytother Res 18:827–830 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Tariq V. N., Scott E. M., McCain N. E. 1995; Use of decimal assay for additivity to demonstrate synergy in pair combinations of econazole, nikkomycin Z, and ibuprofen against C. albicans in vitro . Antimicrob Agents Chemother 39:2615–2619 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Uppuluri P., Nett J., Heitman J., Andes D. 2008; Synergistic effect of calcineurin inhibitors and fluconazole against Candida albicans biofilms. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 52:1127–1132 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Vanden Bossche H., Willemsens G., Marichal P. 1987; Anti- Candida drugs – the biochemical basis for their activity. Crit Rev Microbiol 15:57–72 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.020693-0
Loading
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.020693-0
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error