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Investigating the anti-fungal effects of fennel oil

03/26/2020 // Evangelyn Rodriguez // Views

Tags: alternative medicine, Anti-fungal, candida albicans, drug-resistant fungi, essential oils, fennel oil, goodhealth, goodmedicine, goodscience, natural antibiotics, natural cures, natural medicine, Naturopathy, remedies, research, superbugs, vulvovaginal candidiasis, women's health

In this study, researchers from Fayoum University and Cairo University in Egypt screened the anti-microbial activities of some plant essential oils against isolates of Candida albicans, which causes vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), and investigated the anti-fungal effect of the most active essential oil against planktonic and sessile cells. Their findings were published in the Journal of Herbal Medicine.

• To screen the biofilm production of C. albicans, the researchers used tissue culture plate method.
• They tested the fungus' susceptibility to the anti-fungal fluconazole using disk diffusion method.
• To screen the anti-fungal activities of nine essential oils, the researchers used strong biofilm-producer, fluconazole-resistant or dose-dependently susceptible clinical isolates of C. albicans ATCC 10231.
• They then performed microdilution assay to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of fennel essential oil, fluconazole and their combination against planktonic and sessile cells.
• The researchers reported that 10 out of 19 C. albicans strains showed strong ability to form biofilms.
• None of the tested clinical isolates was sensitive to fluconazole.
• Fennel oil showed much higher anti-fungal activities against the tested C. albicans than any of the other oils.
• The MICs of fennel oil for planktonic cells ranges from 0.78 to 6.25 percent with an MIC50 of 3.12 percent and an MIC90 of 6.25 percent.
• Meanwhile, concentrations of fennel oil ranging between 6.25 to 25 percent resulted in 50 percent biofilm reduction.
• Fennel oil and fluconazole also exerted synergistic effects in seven out of 11 strains. No antagonism was detected between the two anti-fungal agents.

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that fennel oil alone or in combination with fluconazole is a promising treatment for VVC caused by drug-resistant strains of C. albicans.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Bassyouni RH, Wali IE, Kamel Z, Kassim MF. FENNEL OIL: A PROMISING ANTIFUNGAL AGENT AGAINST BIOFILM FORMING FLUCONAZOLE RESISTANT CANDIDA ALBICANS CAUSING VULVOVAGINAL CANDIDIASIS. Journal of Herbal Medicine. 2019;15:100227. DOI: 10.1016/j.hermed.2018.08.002

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