IADR Abstract Archives
Antimicrobial Effect of Pomegranate on Experimental Oral Candidiasis
Objectives: Growing evidences have revealed the antimicrobial potential of herbal medicines against Candida albicans, including oral diseases. To test whether the hydroalcoholic extract of Punica granatum (Pg) has the potential to interfere in the development and/or progression of oral candidiasis in an experimental model, previously immunosuppressed Balb/c female mice were infected by using mini-sterile swabs soaked in C. albicans (ATCC 18804) suspension and rubbed on the dorsum of the tongue.
Methods: By oral gavage, animals received multiple daily doses of Pg suspensions at the concentration of 300, 150 or 75 mg/Kg (Ca/Pg 300, Ca/Pg 150 and Ca/Pg 75, n=4) pre-infection (prophylactic), during (preemptive) or post-infection (therapeutic treatment). As controls, healthy non-infected mice were included (CTRL) or infected animals received sterile filtered water by oral gavage (Ca). Body weights of animals were daily checked and, after euthanasia, the tongues were collected for the microbiological (CFU/g), macroscopic (clinical score of the tongue) and microscopic analysis (H&E and PAS). Results were submitted to Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey HSD test, considering values as p<0.05.
Results: As expected, there was a reduction in body weight of immunossupressed and infected mice compared to the CTRL group. Interestingly, the animals that received therapeutic treatment reestablished their initial body weight, regardless of Pg concentration, and showed decreased pseudomembranes on the surface of the tongue after daily therapeutic treatment with 300 mg/Kg of Pg. In according, tongue from these animals also showed a reduction in the number of CFU/g in relation to the prophylactic and preemptive (p<0.001). Through microscopic analysis, therapeutic treatment at their highest concentration (Ca/Pg 300) resulted in the absence of yeasts/hyphae, similar to CTRL.
Conclusions: The results suggest that the daily administration of the P. granatum extract at concentration of 300 mg/Kg post-infection was effective as treatment against oral candidiasis on the tongue of Balb/c, a widely employed experimental model. Therefore, it was possible to observe the antifungal potential of pomegranate against oral candidiasis.
Methods: By oral gavage, animals received multiple daily doses of Pg suspensions at the concentration of 300, 150 or 75 mg/Kg (Ca/Pg 300, Ca/Pg 150 and Ca/Pg 75, n=4) pre-infection (prophylactic), during (preemptive) or post-infection (therapeutic treatment). As controls, healthy non-infected mice were included (CTRL) or infected animals received sterile filtered water by oral gavage (Ca). Body weights of animals were daily checked and, after euthanasia, the tongues were collected for the microbiological (CFU/g), macroscopic (clinical score of the tongue) and microscopic analysis (H&E and PAS). Results were submitted to Two-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey HSD test, considering values as p<0.05.
Results: As expected, there was a reduction in body weight of immunossupressed and infected mice compared to the CTRL group. Interestingly, the animals that received therapeutic treatment reestablished their initial body weight, regardless of Pg concentration, and showed decreased pseudomembranes on the surface of the tongue after daily therapeutic treatment with 300 mg/Kg of Pg. In according, tongue from these animals also showed a reduction in the number of CFU/g in relation to the prophylactic and preemptive (p<0.001). Through microscopic analysis, therapeutic treatment at their highest concentration (Ca/Pg 300) resulted in the absence of yeasts/hyphae, similar to CTRL.
Conclusions: The results suggest that the daily administration of the P. granatum extract at concentration of 300 mg/Kg post-infection was effective as treatment against oral candidiasis on the tongue of Balb/c, a widely employed experimental model. Therefore, it was possible to observe the antifungal potential of pomegranate against oral candidiasis.