Antifungal properties of Artemisia sieberi and Origanum vulgare essential oils against Candida glabrata isolates obtained from patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis

Objective. - To study the composition and anti-Candida glabrata activity of Artemisia sieberi and Origanum vulgare essential oils. Materials and methods. - The essential oils were extracted using Clevenger-type apparatus and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Susceptibility tests were expressed as inhibition zone by the agar-well diffusion method and minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) by the broth macrodilution method. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed to reveal the effects of the essential oils on the morphology of C. glabrata. Results. - Major components were beta-thujone (23%), camphor (19.5%) and alpha-thujone (15%) in A. sieberi essential oil and linalool (42%), thymol (25.1%) and a-terpineol (10%) in O. vulgare essential oil. A. sieberi caused an 11-40 mm zone of inhibition (mean: 23.4 mm) while O. vulgare showed an 18-40 mm zone of inhibition (mean: 27.1 mm) against all 16 isolates tested. In broth macrodilution method, all the tested C. glabrata isolates were sensitive to the essential oils and this activity was concentration-dependent. MIC values varied from 37.4 to 4781.3 mu g/ml with A. sieberi (mean: 1496.4 mu g/ml) and 0.5 to 1100 mu g/ml with O. vulgare (mean: 340.2 mu g/ml) essential oils. Conclusion. - Results of this study indicated that the oils of plant origin could be used as potential anti-C. glabrata agents. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.