Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

In vitro antifungal activity of Baccharis trimera Less (DC) essential oil against dermatophytes

CA Caneschi¹ , FJ Martins¹, DG Larrudé², EC Romani², MAF Brandðo¹, NRB Raposo¹

¹Núcleo de Pesquisa e Inovação em Ciências da Saúde (NUPICS), Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Rua José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n, 36036-330 Juiz de Fora-MG; ²Departamento de Física, Pontifícia Universidade Catðlica do Rio de Janeiro. Rua Marquês de Sâo Vicente, 225, Gávea - Rio de Janeiro - RJ–Brasil.

For correspondence:- CA Caneschi Email: cacaneschi@yahoo.com.br Tel:+553221023809

Received: 26 March 2015 Accepted: 4 October 2015 Published: 29 November 2015

Citation: Caneschi C, Martins F, Larrudé D, Romani E, Brandðo M, Raposo N. In vitro antifungal activity of Baccharis trimera Less (DC) essential oil against dermatophytes. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(11):2083-2089 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i10.19

© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To identify the main components of the essential oil (EO) of Baccharis trimera Less and investigate their in vitro antifungal activity against seven fungal strains that cause onychomycosis.

Methods: The chemical composition of EO was determined using gas chromatography, and its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC), and antifungal activity were compared with those of terbinafine and ketoconazole. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate morphological changes in the strains of interest.

Results: Twenty compounds, with β-pinene being the major constituent (23.4 %), were identified in EO. EO exhibited fungicide potential, with MFC values in the range of 0.06 to 125 µg mL⁻¹, which were lower than those of the reference drugs against Trichophyton rubrum CCT 5507 URM1666 and Microsporum canis ATCC 32903. MIC range for the compounds was from 0.03 to 125 µg mL⁻¹ for five strains of the fungi evaluated. For Trichophyton mentagrophytes ATCC 11481 and Epidermophyton floccosum CCF-IOC 3757, MIC was ≥ 1000 µg mL⁻¹. Flattening, distortions, and shrinkage were observed in the SEM images of structures of the five fungal species that were subjected to the action of the EO.

Conclusion: The results indicate that EO has antifungal activity against filamentous fungi and may be developed as an alternative for the treatment of onychomycosis.

Keywords: Baccharis trimera, Fungi, Onychomycosis, Dermatophytes, Antifungal