Evaluation of novel herbal antifungal efficacy against Candida albicans isolated from oral leukoplakia

TL;DR

This study evaluates the effectiveness of three herbal extracts in fighting Candida albicans in oral leukoplakia, a pre-cancerous condition.

Contribution

The novel contribution is the evaluation of Curcuma longa, Azadirachta indica, and Allium sativum as potential antifungal agents for oral leukoplakia.

Findings

Allium sativum showed the highest antifungal activity with the largest inhibition zones.

A. sativum had the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration and strongest biofilm inhibition.

Herbal extracts, especially A. sativum, show potential as adjunct antifungal treatments.

Abstract

Candida albicans infection and growing antifungal resistance are often linked with the emergence of an oral
leukoplakia, a potentially malignant lesion that necessitates the implementation of alternative treatment methods. Therefore, it is of
interest to compare antifungal effectiveness of Curcuma longa, Azadirachta indica and Allium
sativum extracts on oral leukoplakia lesions C. albicans. Agar diffusion, MIC, biofilm inhibition and time-kill
assays were done with different concentrations of ethanolic extracts as control was nystatin. The extracts that had the highest activity
in the form of largest inhibition zones, least MIC and greatest biofilm activity were A. sativum. Thus, its herbal
extracts particularly have a good potential when used as adjunctive antifungal agents in management of oral leukoplakia.