Abstrakt
Fungi of the Candida genus are responsible for invasive candidiasis, which affects people all
over the world and has high mortality rates. This is due to their virulence factors, which give them
great resistance and pathogenicity. In addition, the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains makes
it difficult to treat these infections. In this way, natural products have emerged as an alternative to
standard drugs, where plants known for their medicinal properties such as Turnera subulata become
attractive to research. The present work aimed to analyze the ethanol extract of Turnera subulata
leaves against standard strains of Candida albicans, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis using broth
microdilution techniques. The identification of the compounds in T. subulata leaves by LC-MS
revealed the presence of a wide variety of substances such as carboxylic acids and terpenes, with
flavonoids and fatty acids being more evident. The antifungal assays showed that the extract was not
able to inhibit the growth of the tested strains at concentrations with a clinical relevance. However, at
higher concentrations, it was able to inhibit the fungal dimorphism of C. albicans and C. tropicalis. It is
possible that the T. subulata extract has potential as an inhibitor of fungal virulence factors without
affecting the cell viability. Further research should be carried out in order to assess its inhibitory
potential for other fungal virulence factors.
Jacqueline Cosmo Andrade-Pinheiro
Celestina Elba Sobral de Souza
Andressa de Alencar Silva
Antonia Thassya Lucas dos Santos
Victor Juno Alencar Fonseca
Delmacia Gonçalves de Macêdo
José Weverton Almeida-Bezerra
Antonio Júdson Targino Machado
Thiago Sampaio de Freitas
Paulo Riceli Vasconcelos Ribeiro
José Galberto Martins Da Costa
Henrique Douglas Melo Coutinho
Maria Flaviana Bezerra Morais-Braga