Antifungal Activity of Commercial Mouthrinses Against Candida Albicans.
Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen commonly isolated from the oral cavity, and is a major etiologic agent of oral mucosal infections. It is the fourth leading cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections,
and the association of sepsis with preceding oral colonization has been demonstrated in AIDS patients,
haematopoietic stem cell and bone marrow transplant patients, as well as low-weight neonates.
Candida albicans has also been implicated as an etiological agent of pneumonia in certain medically compromised patient groups. While C. albicans is commonly isolated from various oral sites in healthy individuals, higher prevalence rates have been observed in hospitalized patients, and oral colonization has been associated with factors such as xerostomia, broad spectrum antibiotic therapy, immune status, nutritional deficiencies, and endocrine disorders.
Although conventional antifungal agents such as polyenes and azoles have been the mainstays of prophylaxis and treatment for systemic and oral candidiasis, resistance to such agents
have been increasingly reported in medically compromised patients. There is thus an urgent need for the evaluation of the antifungal activity of existing commercial oral antiseptic agents, which is
currently poorly understood.
The antifungal activity of mouthrinses was tested against
wild type C. albicans strain SC5314, which was cultured as previously described.10 Two-fold dilutions of the mouthrinse solutions were prepared in RPMI, and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined in accordance with Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
Guidelines for the broth microdilution assay.
Optically clear wells were cultured on Sadbouraud’s agar for determination of minimum fungicidal concentrations.
The effect of the mouthrinses against C. albicans mature biofilms was also evaluated using
a previously established protocol. In brief, standard C.
Dent Open J. 2018; 5(1): 11-18. doi: 10.17140/DOJ-5-137