Antifungal Effect of Eugenol and Nerolidol against Microsporum gypseum in a Guinea Pig Model

Abstract

Dermatophytosis is a superficial infection caused by keratinophilic fungi, known as dermatophytes, in keratinized tissues including hair, nail and stratum corneum of skin. The dermatophytes include three genera: Microsporum, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton. The species that most commonly infect animals are Microsporum canis, M. gypseum and Trichopyton mentagrophyte. The fungi invade into keratinized tissues and hair follicles, and cause patchy alopecia, scale, and subsequent inflammation.1,2) Traditional antifungal drugs have variable adverse effects, and fungal resistance is becoming more common. Thus, more potent and safer antifungal agents need to be developed. [3][4][5] Various plant materials are believed to have antifungal activity, and many essential oils have been reported to have antifungal activities. [6][7][8] Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) is an evergreen tree in the Cupressaceae family with antibacterial and anticandidal activities as well as a sedative, stress-reducing effect which decreases serum cortisol levels.9,10) Eugenol and nerolidol are extracted from an essential oil from Japanese cypress. Eugenol is a major phenolic component of clove oil used in dentistry as a root canal sealer. Eugenol has been reported to inhibit the growth of bacteria, including oral bacteria 11) and some gram positive and negative bacteria (Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogens), Lactobacillus sakei) by interaction with the cell membrane.12,13) Anticandidal activities of Eugenol have also been described in vitro and in vivo. 14,15) Silva et al. demonstrated that eugenol, a main constituent of essential oils of Ocimum gratissimum, has antidermatophytic activities in vitro; this effect has not been confirmed in vivo. Nerolidol is a sesquiterpenoid component of essential oil used to enhance flavor and aroma, and has been studied as a topical skin penetration enhancer. [16][17][18] In addition, nerolidol has inhibitory activities on S. aureus and E. coli by altering bacterial cell permeability, 19,20) but it has not been evaluated for antifungal activities.Thus, in the present study, antifungal activities of the essential oils, eugenol and nerolidol, were evaluated against dermatophytes. The antifungal activities of these biomaterials were assessed against one dermatophyte, M. gypseum, using the microdilution method in a guinea pig model. 21,22) MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental AnimalsIn the present study, 20 male albino guinea pigs (5-week old, 350 to 400 g) were obtained from Dae Han Biolink Co., Ltd. (Eumsung, Chungbuk, Korea). All animals were individually housed in polycarbonate cages, and used after acclimation to an environmentally controlled room (temperature: 23Ϯ2°C, relative humidity: 50Ϯ10%, frequent ventilation and 12 h light cycle). All experimental and animal procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chungbuk National University.Test Materials Eugenol and nerolidol were extracted from Japanese cypress at the Department...

Chemical composition of the essential oil and hexanic fraction of Lippia and Lantana species

“…Nerolidol was the major compound detected (Table 3). Antitrypanosomal, antifungal and antiulcer are some of the pharmacological activities already described for this oxygenated terpene (Hoet et al, 2006;Lee et al, 2007;Klopell et al, 2007).…”

DISTRIBUCIÓN GEOGRÁFICA POTENCIAL DE LA ESPECIE CUNICULUS PACA (Guanta) EN EL OCCIDENTE DE ECUADOR

“…Los resultados de mayor interés se relacionan con la evaluación de actividad antimicrobiana en donde se evidencian interesantes resultados en los respecta a las dos levaduras evaluadas C. tropicales y C. albicans, en este caso en la literatura científica es posible encontrar varios estudios que avalan una elevada actividad antifúngica en varios de los componentes mayoritarios como por ejemplo en el cariofileno (Sabulal et al, 2006), y en el nerolidol (Lee et al, 2007). De igual manera varios aceites esenciales ricos en estos componentes han demostrado tener una buena actividad como es el caso de Bidens pilosa (Deba et al, 2008) y Eugenia disentérica (Costa et al, 2000) en aceites ricos en cariofileno y M. quinquenervia (Lee et al, 2008) caite rico en nerolidol.…”

Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Syzygium aromaticum Extract and Essential oil

“…Sterile DMSO and ketoconazole served as negative and positive controls respectively. Zones of inhibition were measured, thus agar plate with lowest concentration of Syzygium aromaticum oil inhibiting visible growth of bacterial and fungal after incubation period was regarded as the MIC (Lee et al, 2007). Ten microliters of the invisible culture broth were inoculated onto Mueller Hinton agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours.…”