: Candida albicans is one of the main agents responsible for opportunistic pathogenic infections. The progressive emergence of fungal resistance to conventional antibiotics and its side effects as well as treatment costs are considered as major limitations for antifungal drugs. It has drawn scientists' attention to search for potential substitution and therapeutic reliable alternatives for the antifungal compounds from sources like medicinal plants, which contain numerous bioactive compounds such as essential oils. Essential oils (EO) apart from having lower toxicity and better biodegradability are eco-friendly in nature as compared with conventional antibiotics. Furthermore, extracted essential oils have been reported to possess potent antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that nominate them as natural promising candidates to combat numerous fungal ailments. Thus, determination of antifungal efficacy of essential oil-bearing plants on Candida spp. will provide miscellaneous knowledge for future clinical studies that are required for development of new formulations as alternative therapeutic agents to control the growth of Candida species. Therefore, this review summarizes the gist of major essential oils that have been investigated for their anti- Candida potential with some recommendations for further study.

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Biofilm refers to a group of microbes colonizing together and often adhered to a surface. The adherence is attributed to secretion of polymeric substances comprising of extracellular DNA, proteins, and polysaccharides thereby limiting the access and inhibitory activity of existing antimicrobial agents. Biofilm are a major cause of acute infections and pose immense clinical threat especially in conditions employing the use of invasive devices thus being a major source of mortality and morbidity. Hence there is a dire need to develop alternative treatment against biofilm-related infections. Advances in nanotechnology has opened new horizons. Nanoparticles derived from various metal present promising candidates to ameliorate biofilms owing to their antioxidant potential.

The present study is concerned with the development and characterization of bioadhesive carageenan gel encapsulating Amphotericin B and Lactobacillus acidophillus, prepared by graft co-polymeriztion against Candidal vaginitis. Intravaginal gel systems based on bioadhesive polymer (carrageenan) were characterized with respect to swelling index, bioadhesive strength, percent encapsulation and in vitro drug release antimicrobial studies. A marked increase in swelling index of gel encapsulating Lactobacillus was found to be 1.9±0.35. The percent encapsulation of drug was found to be 98.63%±.0.2% and that of Lactobacillus was 91.81 ±0.01. The viability was observed for interval of 6 hrs on trypton soya agar and showed that viability was highly conserved till 4 hrs. The antimicrobial study of gels encapsulating Amphotericin B and Lactobacillus showed that carageenan gel can inhibit Candida albicans upto a maximum extent. Bioadhesivity study also conducted for gels that showed a bioadhesivity of 84.66% ±.0.5% with drug, 88.66% ±.02% with Lactobacillus. In-vitro drug release showed a sustained type release of drug from the polymer i.e. there was initial burst of Amphotericin B up to 5 hours, after which there was a sustained release upto 10 days. Thus it has been concluded from the present study that bioadhesive gels encapsulating Amphotericin B can act as promising drug carriers along with Lactobacillus against candidal vaginitis.