In view of an optimal gut antifungal therapeutic strategy: anin vitrosusceptibility and toxicity study testing a novel phyto-compound.

In view of the raising concern for gut fungal infection, the aim of the present research was to carry out a systematicin vitrostudy testing the antifungal activity and possible toxicity of a polygodial-anethole compound (Kolorex) in several strains ofCandida albicansand in other fungal pathogens.Thein vitrosusceptibility tests were carried out on 4 strains ofC. albicans(C. krusei, C. lipolytica, C. tropicalis, C. utilis),Aspergillus flavusandA. fumigatus. Cultures were also analyzed by varying medium, pH and inoculum size, and a time-course killing test was carried out.In the present study the polygodyal–anethole compound showed remarkablein vitroactivity against the most common fungi, which was significantly better than polygodyal alone. Moreover, such mixture compound was shown to exert its activity against a wide spectrum of fungi, includingC. lipolyticaandC. tropicalis, which required significantly higher MIC of polygodyal to be unfeasible in clinical application. The activity of the polygodyal–anethole compound was significantly better than polygodyal alone with high inoculum size and low pH. Moreover, it proved to exert a significantly faster biological activity against low inoculum.This study suggests that the mixture compound Kolorex has a very good profile of antifungal activity in terms of effectiveness and spectrum of action while being devoid of any significant toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]