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Updated: Jul 25, 2025
A Soluble Tetrazolium-Based Reduction Assay to Evaluate the Effect of Antibodies on Candida tropicalis Biofilms
Published on: September 16, 2022
Evaluation of Tamarix nilotica Fractions in Combating Candida albicans Infections
Ehssan Moglad1, Engy Elekhnawy2, Walaa A Negm3
1Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.
Objectives:
Evaluation of the antifungal properties of Tamarix nilotica fractions against Candida albicans clinical isolates.
Methods:
The in vitro antifungal potential was evaluated by agar well diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The antibiofilm potential was assessed by crystal violet, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and qRT-PCR. The in vivo antifungal activity was evaluated by determining the burden in the lung tissues of infected mice, histopathological, immunohistochemical studies, and ELISA.
Results:
Both the dichloromethane (DCM) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions had minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 64-256 and 128-1024 μg/mL, respectively. SEM examination showed that the DCM fraction decreased the biofilm formation capacity of the treated isolates. A significant decline in biofilm gene expression was observed in 33.33% of the DCM-treated isolates. A considerable decline in the CFU/g lung count in infected mice was observed, and histopathological examinations revealed that the DCM fraction maintained the lung tissue architecture. Immunohistochemical investigations indicated that the DCM fraction significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, NF-kB, COX-2, IL-6, and IL-1β) in the immunostained lung sections. The phytochemical profiling of DCM and EtOAc fractions was performed using Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS).
Conclusion:
T. nilotica DCM fraction could be a significant source of natural products with antifungal activity against C. albicans infections.
