Beneficial effect of Mentha suaveolens essential oil in the treatment of vaginal candidiasis assessed by real-time monitoring of infection

Abstract

BackgroundVaginal candidiasis is a frequent and common distressing disease affecting up to 75% of the women of fertile age; most of these women have recurrent episodes. Essential oils from aromatic plants have been shown to have antimicrobial and antifungal activities. This study was aimed at assessing the anti-fungal activity of essential oil from Mentha suaveolens (EOMS) in an experimental infection of vaginal candidiasis.MethodsThe in vitro and in vivo activity of EOMS was assessed. The in vitro activity was evaluated under standard CLSI methods, and the in vivo analysis was carried out by exploiting a novel, non-invasive model of vaginal candidiasis in mice based on an in vivo imaging technique.Differences between essential oil treated and saline treated mice were evaluated by the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test. Viable count data from a time kill assay and yeast and hyphae survival test were compared using the Student's t-test (two-tailed).ResultsOur main findings were: i) EOMS shows potent candidastatic and candidacidal activity in an in vitro experimental system; ii) EOMS gives a degree of protection against vaginal candidiasis in an in vivo experimental system.ConclusionsThis study shows for the first time that the essential oil of a Moroccan plant Mentha suaveolens is candidastatic and candidacidal in vitro, and has a degree of anticandidal activity in a model of vaginal infection, as demonstrated in an in vivo monitoring imaging system. We conclude that our findings lay the ground for further, more extensive investigations to identify the active EOMS component(s), promising in the therapeutically problematic setting of chronic vaginal candidiasis in humans.

Antimicrobial Activity against Beneficial Microorganisms and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil of Mentha suaveolens ssp. insularis Grown in Sardinia

“…Pulegone is an oxygenated monoterpene that has been shown to possess antioxidant and antimicrobial properties (Karaman and others ). EOs with high concentration of pulegone have usually a site of action in the microbial cell wall (Hyldgaard and others ), and they seem to be effective against pathogen microorganisms, both bacteria and yeasts (Ouzmil and others ; Pietrella and others ).…”

Effects of Mentha suaveolens Essential Oil Alone or in Combination with Other Drugs in Candida albicans

“…[21, 22]. Mentha suaveolens plants collected in various regions of Morocco contain a high percentage of monoterpenes oxides, such as piperitenone oxide and piperitoneoxide, terpenic alcohol (phenol, p-cymen-8-ol, geraniol, terpineol, and borneol) and terpenic ketones (pulegone and piperitenone); all of them account for 65% to 90% of the total essential oil.…”

Plant-Derived Antimicrobial Compounds: Alternatives to Antibiotics

“…Picerno et al observed that its extracts and some of their compounds inhibited C. albicans growth [102]. Different authors [103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112] recently demonstrated the antifungal properties of essential oils obtained from different aromatic plants, in particular from Mentha suaveolens [105], whose main microbicidal components were pulegone and piperitone oxide. A strong antifungal activity of essential oils obtained from other plants was demonstrated [28][29][30]103,104].…”