Atividade anti-Candida albicans da associação do citronelal com a anfotericina B ou com o cetoconazol.

Abstract

Fungal infections caused by species of the genus Candida are responsible for high rates of morbidity and mortality in hospitals around the world, affecting mainly the population of immunocompromised. Candida albicans is the most frequently isolated species of superficial and systemic injuries. This problem is associated with increased resistance of pathogenic fungi to agents used in the treatment regimen and the limited number of drugs for curing such infections. Given these difficulties, the search for new drugs with activity antifungal has become increasingly important. In this sense, natural products are known to be potential sources of antimicrobial drugs are still few explored. The association of drugs commonly used in clinical practice with other substances may have other advantages from reduction of the adverse effects of toxic drugs considered. For this reason, the present work aimed to study the antimicrobial activity of citronellal alone and in combination with amphotericin B or ketoconazole. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of citronellal, amphotericin B and ketoconazole against strains of Candida albicans was evaluated by microdilution method, and even made the minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) of citronellal against these strains. The MIC ranged between 250 and 500 μg/mL, while the MFCs were between 250 and 2000 μg/mL. The effect of citronellal combination with amphotericin B and ketoconazole were evaluated by the checkerboard method. The results showed that the combination of ketoconazole with citronellal showed additive effects against a strain of C. albicans and indifferent to another strain. While the combined activity of citronellal with amphotericin B showed indifferent effect for all the strains tested. In none of the associations was found antagonistic effect. According to the data obtained in this work can be seen that the citronellal showed good activity against C. albicans and has been able to reduce the MICs of antifungal agents in combination. These results provide support for further investigation of combinations with other antifungals in order to find synergistic interactions.