Pharmaceutics (Mar 2022)

Anti-<i>Candida</i> Properties of <i>Gossypium hirsutum</i> L.: Enhancement of Fungal Growth, Biofilm Production and Antifungal Resistance

  • Luciene Ferreira de Lima,
  • Jacqueline Cosmo Andrade-Pinheiro,
  • Maria Audilene Freitas,
  • Adriely Idalina da Silva,
  • Victor Juno Alencar Fonseca,
  • Taís Gusmão da Silva,
  • Josefa Carolaine Pereira da Silva,
  • Rosilaine Honorato de Lima,
  • Débora Lima Sales,
  • Rejane Pereira Neves,
  • Edy Sousa de Brito,
  • Paulo Riceli Vasconcelos Ribeiro,
  • Kirley Marques Canuto,
  • Henrique Douglas Melo Coutinho,
  • Abolghasem Siyadatpanah,
  • Bonglee Kim,
  • Maria Flaviana Bezerra Morais-Braga

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14040698
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 4
p. 698

Abstract

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(1) Background: Candida is a genus of yeasts with notable pathogenicity and significant ability to develop antimicrobial resistance. Gossypium hirsutum L., a medicinal plant that is traditionally used due to its antimicrobial properties, has demonstrated significant antifungal activity. Therefore, this study investigated the chemical composition and anti-Candida effects of aqueous (AELG) and hydroethanolic (HELG) extracts obtained from the leaves of this plant. (2) Methods: The extracts were chemically characterized by UPLC–QTOF-MS/MS, and their anti-Candida activities were investigated by analyzing cell viability, biofilm production, morphological transition, and enhancement of antifungal resistance. (3) Results: The UPLC–QTOF-MS/MS analysis revealed the presence of twenty-one compounds in both AELG and HELG, highlighting the predominance of flavonoids. The combination of the extracts with fluconazole significantly reduced its IC50 values against Candida albicans INCQS 40006, Candida tropicalis INCQS 40042, and C. tropicalis URM 4262 strains, indicating enhanced antifungal activity. About biofilm production, significant inhibition was observed only for the AELG-treated C. tropicalis URM 4262 strain in comparison with the untreated control. Accordingly, this extract showed more significant inhibitory effects on the morphological transition of the INCQS 40006 and URM 4387 strains of C. albicans (4) Conclusions: Gossypium hirsutum L. presents promising antifungal effects, that may be potentially linked to the combined activity of chemical constituents identified in its extracts.

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