Abstract
Candida albicans invasion is one of the most serious fungal infections in clinical history. In recent years, because of the widespread use of immunosuppressive drugs, chemotherapy drugs, glucocorticoids, and broad-spectrum antibiotics, serious drug resistance has been reported; therefore, a new type of antifungal drug needs to be developed. In this study, we found that Nerol (NEL) had strong antimicrobial activity and 0.77 μL/mL NEL was the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) effective against C. albicans. We determined the change of the growth curve of NEL for C. albicans, to identify the trend of NEL activity against C. albicans. Through the determination of the ergosterol content and glucose-induced extracellular fluid acidification of NEL on C. albicans, we found that NEL inhibits the growth of C. albicans by destroying cell membranes. This finding was also supported by the expression of SAP (secreted aspartyl proteinase) involved in cell membrane synthesis. Finally, demonstrations of phenotype investigation, colony-forming unit (CFU) counts, and PAS (periodic acid-Schiff) staining were conducted to prove that NEL had the ability to treated mouse oral C. albicans infection and vaginal C. albicans infection. This research may help us to investigate new antimicrobial agents for treating C. albicans infections.
Key Points
• NEL can inhibit the growth of C. albicans.
• NEL destroys the cell membrane formation and permeability of C. albicans.
• NEL can treat vulvovaginal candidiasis and oropharyngeal candidiasis in mice.
• NEL could be used as a possible antifungal agent.
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Funding
This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31972171, 31671944), Six Talent Peaks Project of Jiangsu Province (SWYY-026), Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province, Natural Science Foundation by Xuzhou City (KC17053), and the PAPD of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.
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JT and XP designed the experiments. ZW and YR performed the experiments. LC and QS analyzed the data. ZW and KLY drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The study was carried out in accordance with recommendations for use and laboratory animal care as prescribed by the international association and approved by the ethics committee of Jiangsu Normal University. The agreement was authorized by the Animal Experiment Committee of Jiangsu Normal University (No. 201703003; March 6, 2017) and ensured that the pain of the experimental animals was minimized.
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Wang, Z., Yang, K., Chen, L. et al. Activities of Nerol, a natural plant active ingredient, against Candida albicans in vitro and in vivo. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 5039–5052 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10559-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10559-2