Dicarboxylic acids affect the growth of dermatophytes in vitro

Azelaic acid is a dicarboxylic acid with known antimycotic activity. In this study we have used an agar dilution technique to test the effect of six other dicarboxylic acids (sebacic, undecanedioic, dodecanedioic, tridecanedioic, tetradecanedioic and hexadecanedioic acid, 10(-4)-10(-2) mol/l, pH 5.5) on in vitro growth of Trichophyton (T.) rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and Microsporum (M.) canis. Furthermore, the fungicidal activity of 10(-2) mol/l undecanedioic and sebacic acid was tested using a T. rubrum growth assay. Undecanedioic acid proved fungistatic at 10(-2) mol/l for all species and fungicidal for T. rubrum. A minor fungistatic effect on T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes was also seen with the other acids at this concentration. M. canis was inhibited only by high concentrations of four acids, whereas low concentrations of all six agents resulted in enlarged thallus diameters. We conclude that among dicarboxylic acids fungistatic activity is not limited to azelaic acid. Undecanedioic acid appears promising for further investigations.