Extrato etanólico e óleo essencial de Cymbopogan nardus (L.) Rendle: avaliação, in vitro, do potencial antifúngico

Abstract

Candida spp are opportunistic pathogens isolated from human biota in the gastrointestinal tract, oral and vaginal mucosa, which can lead to the development of superficial lesions to disseminated infections, especially in immunosuppression. The high toxicity, the high cost of treatment and the emergence of resistant strains justify the search for new therapeutic agents. The plant biodiversity is rich in active ingredients that have contributed to the development of new and effective drugs, less expensive treatments and population access. Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle is a plant popularly known as citronella and cultivated in subtropical and tropical areas of Asia, Africa and America, including Brazil. Essential oils present in the Cymbopogon genus plants have been widely studied, but there are few studies involving chemical analysis and microbiological ethanol extract of C. nardus. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the antifungal potential, in vitro, of ethanol extract (EE) and essential oil (EO) from the leaves of Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle (citronella) clinical isolates against of Candida spp. Material and Methods: In this study the species Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto and C. orthopsilosis were selected. EE was obtained by extraction ultrasonic bath and analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS). The EO was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The antifungal activity of EE and EO was performed by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), time-kill assay inhibition of hyphal growth of C. albicans and inhibit mature biofilm. Additionally, the cytotoxic evaluation (determination of IC50) was assessed in HepG-2 cell lines (hepatic) and MRC-5 (fibroblast). Results: The results of the chemical analysis of EE showed presence of glycosylated flavones and glycosylated phenylpropanoids. According to the EO chemical analysis, the main compounds observed were monoterpenes containing-oxygen: citronellal, geranial, geraniol, citronellol and neral. Biological assays showed effective antifungal activity of EE (MIC 1000 to 125 μg / ml) and of EO (MIC 1000 the 250 μg/ml). In the time-kill assay was observed inhibition of growth of the species tested for EE and EO. The hyphal growth of C. albicans was inhibited by EE (1000 to 31 μg/ml) and the EO (1000 to 15.8 μg/ml) for 12 and 24 hours. The EE and EO inhibit mature biofilm species C. albicans, C. krusei, and C. parapsilosis at concentrations of 50xCIM and 10xCIM, respectively. EE exhibited the lower IC50 values for HepG-2 (322 μg/ml) and MRC-5 (181.1 μg/ml) than essential oil that showed IC50 values for HepG-2 (96.6 μg/ml) and MRC-5 (33.1 μg/ml). Conclusions: The EE and EO from C. nardus present as a promising source of new molecules with antifungal activity especially to the inhibition of the main virulence factors such as formation of hyphae and biofilm.