Avaliation anti-Candida of essential oils from three medicinal plants species (Astereaceae)

Abstract The growing resistance to conventional antifungal drugs and concerns about human health has inspired the scientific community to investigate new substances that able to inhibit the growth of the Candida genus yeasts; medicinal plants (family Asteraceae) may have antifungal activity. The present study characterized the essential oils of Artemisia vulgaris , Biden pilosa and Sphagneticola trilobata , obtained from the dry and fresh leaves, as well as the evaluation of antifungal activity . The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC–MS. The antifungal activity upon C. albicans , C. glabrata , C. krusei and C. parapsilosis was evaluated by the minimal inhibitory and minimal fungicidal concentration methods. The chemical component's qualitative and quantitative variation was identified between the essential oil's interspecies and intraspecies. Differences were observed in the susceptibility of the yeasts according to the percentage of majority components present in the oils of the species dry and fresh leaves, highlighting the relationship between the presence of 1-phenylhepta-1,3,5-triyne in B. pilosa and sclareol in S. trilobata and antifungal activity. The three species are able to inhibit the growth of the Candida genus yeasts.