Control of Oral Thrush causing Candida albicans by Novel Synergistic Formulation

Oral thrush is candidal infection of mouth called candidiasis. It is an ubiquitous infectious disease and its incidence has been increasing over the last few years, not only in children but also in immunocompromised patients, thus becoming a public health problem. Lysozyme, a natural component of saliva has been reported for its anticandidal activity thus hyposalivation causes candidasis. The aim of this study is to formulate and investigate the synergistic anticandidal effect of mouth paint containing lysozyme and fruit extract of Coccinia indica against Candida albicans. In combination with C. indica fruit extract, the concentration of lysozyme for inhibiting the growth of the tested Candida species could be reduced by 50%. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of lysozyme and fruit extract of C. indica against Candida species is 160 µg/ml of each. These results support the potential use of lysozyme and C. indica fruit extract as an anticandidal agent in treatment of oral thrush.