In-Vitro Antifungal Activity of Nano Encapsulated Caprylic Acid and EFG1 Gene Expression Profile in Candida albicans

Article Type Original Research Authors Reyhaneh Zarimeidani, MSc1 Shahla RoudbarMohammadi, PhD1* Maryam Roudbary, PhD2 Fatemeh Nikoomanesh, PhD3 Peyman Aslani, PhD4 Sanaz Yaalimadad, MSc1 How to cite this article Zarimeidani R., RoudbarMohammadi Sh., Roudbary M., Nikoomanesh F., Aslani P., Yaalimadad S. In-Vitro Antifungal Activity of Nano Encapsulated Caprylic Acid and EFG1 Gene Expression Profile in Candida albicans. Infection Epidemiology and Microbiology. 2021;7(3): 229-236 1Department of Mycology, Faculty of Medical Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 2Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3Infectious Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran 4Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Aja University of Medical Sciences * Correspondence Address: Department of Medical Mycology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Sh.Mohammadi@modares.ac.ir Article History Received:April 25 2021 Accepted: June 05 ,2021 Published: July 20 ,2021 Backgrounds: Due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant Candida species, the discovery of new antifungal agents with minimum side effects is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the antifungal activity of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid against C. albicans as well as their effect on the expression of EFG1 gene. Materials & Methods: In this laboratory trial study, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid against C. albicans was evaluated at various concentrations (400-625 and 1.3-50 μL/mL, respectively). Real time-PCR was performed to assess the expression level of EFG1 gene. Cytotoxicity effect of caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid was evaluated on SW480 cell line using MTT test. Findings: Antifungal activity findings displayed that MIC90 and MIC50 values of caprylic acid were 500 and 450 μg/mL, respectively, whereas MIC90 and MIC50 values of nano-encapsulated caprylic acid were 6.2 and 3.1 μg/mL, respectively. The expression of EFG1 gene significantly decreased in the groups treated with caprylic acid and nano-encapsulated caprylic acid compared to the control group. According to the cytotoxicity evaluation findings, the viability of cells treated with caprylic acid was significantly higher than that of cells exposed to nanoencapsulated caprylic acid. Conclusions: According to the obtained results, nano-encapsulated caprylic acid successfully inhibited C. albicans growth at a lower concentration compared to caprylic acid. Overall, it was found that nano-encapsulated caprylic acid is a promising antifungal agent against Candida species; however, further studies are needed to be performed about nano-encapsulation of caprylic acid. Copyright© 2021, TMU Press. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms. 10292252/iem.7.3.229