Resistance to currently available antifungal agents raises
the
need to develop alternative remedies. Candida albicans is the most common opportunistic pathogenic fungus of humans, colonizing
in the genital and intestinal mucosa, skin, and oral-nasal cavity
and reducing quality of life. Herein, essential oil from grapefruit
(Citrus paradise) peels was obtained by hydrodistillation,
and the remaining plant material was sequentially subjected to supercritical
carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction to determine the conditions
for maximizing phenolic compounds. A statistical design was used to
evaluate the effect of temperature (30, 50, 70 °C), pressure
(80, 150, 220 bar), and ethanol as a cosolvent (0%, 10%, and 20% v/v).
Essential oil and SC-CO2 extracts were mixed at various
ratios to develop an effective antifungal formulation. Subsequently,
fungal infection was modeled by coculturing C. albicans with human skin keratinocytes (HaCaT) to mimic dermal mycoses, endothelial
cells (HUVEC) to evaluate vascular fate, and cervical adenocarcinoma
(HeLa) cells to represent additional genital mycoses. Treatment with
essential oil and extract (25:75%) formulation for 8 h exhibited slight
cytotoxicity toward HeLa cells, no toxicity toward HaCaT and HUVECs,
whereas inhibition of C. albicans. Considering the
clinical significance, such in vitro models are essential
to screen potential compounds for the treatment of opportunistic fungal
infections.