Evaluation of the Essential Oil of Citrus paradisi as an Alternative Treatment against Candida albicans

Introduction: The World Health Organization establishes that 80% of the world’s population uses traditional medicine for their primary care, because they contain compounds responsible for their properties. Objective: To evaluate the antifungal effect of the essential oil of Citrus paradisi against C. albicans and the cytotoxic effect in three cell lines in vitro. Methods: The phytochemical characterization of the oil was carried out by chemical methods and Gas chromatography (GC-MS) and the antifungal effect against C. albicans (ATCC 90029) was evaluated by the Kirby-Bauer method, which evaluated concentrations of 0.75 - 20 μg/mL and compared with nystatin 100,000 Ul/mL as a positive control. The percentage of the relative inhibitory effect was calculated. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined at 24 hours. Moreover, the cytotoxic effect on C. albicans and cell lines was determined by the colorimetric MTT tetrazolium assay. Finally, the antifungal effect against Candida strains isolated from clinical samples was evaluated at a concentration of 20 μg/mL. Results: The essential oil showed an antifungal effect with a percentage of inhibition of 123%. The MIC was 2.5 μg/mL, and the cytotoxicity index was 5.44 μg/mL for C. albicans. The IC50 values were 21.060, 9.482 and 4.176 μg/mL for Vero E6, J774A.1 and MDBK cells respectively. Conclusion: These results show the use of C. paradisi essential oil as an alternative treatment in oral antifungal therapy, it is beneficial due to its antifungal effect and its low toxicity on cell cultures.