Investigação do mecanismo da atividade antifúngica do monoterpeno citral frente a cepas de cladosporium spp e cladophialophora carrionii

• Ano de defesa: 2017
• Autor(a) principal: Caldas, Camila Pinheiro de Menezes
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal da Paraíba; Brasil; Farmacologia; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Produtos Naturais e Sintéticos Bioativos; UFPB
• Palavras-chave em Português: Citral; Fungos Dematiáceos; Cladosporium; Cladophialophora; Antifúngicos; Ergosterol; Dematiaceous Fungi; Antifungals; CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::FARMACOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/tede/9079

Dematiaceous fungi are associated with superficial infections of the skin and soft tissues, and include sepsis with high mortality. The clinical, epidemiological and therapeutic importance given to the mycoses caused by dematiaceous fungi drive studies aimed at discovering new antifungal agents. Among them the monoterpenes are distinguished and enjoy broad recognition of their antimicrobial effect. Citral is a monoterpene with known pharmacological properties, including antifungal action. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of this monoterpene, its possible mechanisms of action, and the effect of association with certain antifungals against Cladophialophora carrionii and Cladosporium spp, as well as to determine, through theoretical analysis, in silico, its pharmacokinetic profile and other possible pharmacological activities. Tests of antifungal activity were performed by microbiological screening of eight (8) phytochemicals; to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of citral by microdilution technique; measuring the radial mycelium growth at different time intervals; and measuring spore germination inhibition. The actions of citral on the fungal cell wall (Sorbitol assay), and the fungal cell membrane (ergosterol complexation) were also investigated. We also carried out in silico studies and rated the association effect of citral with antifungals (amphotericin B and voriconazole) using the checkerboard method. In microbiological screening, citral showed better antifungal activity against 10 tested strains, being selected to continue in antifungal research. The MIC of Citral ranged between 128 and 256 ug/ml for C. carrionii, and C. sphaerospermum. For C. oxysporum the MIC was 128 ug/ml for all three tested strains, and the MIC for C. cladoporioides was 64 ug/mL. The MFC of citral varied between 256 and 1024 ug/ml for C. carrionii and C. sphaerospermum, it was 256 ug/ml for C. oxysporum, and 128 ug/ml for C. cladoporioides. The results also showed that citral significantly inhibits mycelial growth and spore germination for the four species tested. In the mechanism of action investigation it was shown that the MIC values of citral against Cladosporium spp. and C. carrionii remained unchanged in the presence of 0.8 M sorbitol suggesting that this monoterpene does not act by inhibiting the synthesis of the fungal cell wall. However, the test results on the plasma membrane showed that citral interacts with ergosterol. In the in silico study, citral showed good oral bioavailability, as well as important pharmacological activities. The citral-voriconazole association was indifferent and the citral-amphotericin B association was antagonistic for all strains tested. From the results, it is suggested that citral acts on the Cladosporium spp. and C. carrionii membrane through a mechanism involve ergosterol complexation. The monoterpene is presented as a promising antifungal agent, in particular, for cases of mycosis caused by dematiaceous fungi.