Microbiology Section, Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Giochetto, 06122 Perugia, Italy.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Feb 28;11:18. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-11-18.
Vaginal candidiasis is a frequent and common distressing disease affecting up to 75% of the women of fertile age; most of these women have recurrent episodes. Essential oils from aromatic plants have been shown to have antimicrobial and antifungal activities. This study was aimed at assessing the anti-fungal activity of essential oil from Mentha suaveolens (EOMS) in an experimental infection of vaginal candidiasis.
The in vitro and in vivo activity of EOMS was assessed. The in vitro activity was evaluated under standard CLSI methods, and the in vivo analysis was carried out by exploiting a novel, non-invasive model of vaginal candidiasis in mice based on an in vivo imaging technique. Differences between essential oil treated and saline treated mice were evaluated by the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test. Viable count data from a time kill assay and yeast and hyphae survival test were compared using the Student's t-test (two-tailed).
Our main findings were: i) EOMS shows potent candidastatic and candidacidal activity in an in vitro experimental system; ii) EOMS gives a degree of protection against vaginal candidiasis in an in vivo experimental system.
This study shows for the first time that the essential oil of a Moroccan plant Mentha suaveolens is candidastatic and candidacidal in vitro, and has a degree of anticandidal activity in a model of vaginal infection, as demonstrated in an in vivo monitoring imaging system. We conclude that our findings lay the ground for further, more extensive investigations to identify the active EOMS component(s), promising in the therapeutically problematic setting of chronic vaginal candidiasis in humans.
阴道念珠菌病是一种常见且多发的疾病，影响着高达 75%的育龄妇女；其中大多数妇女反复发作。芳香植物的精油具有抗菌和抗真菌活性。本研究旨在评估薄荷（Mentha suaveolens）精油（EOMS）在阴道念珠菌病实验感染中的抗真菌活性。
评估 EOMS 的体外和体内活性。体外活性通过标准 CLSI 方法进行评估，体内分析通过利用基于体内成像技术的新型非侵入性阴道念珠菌病小鼠模型进行。用非参数 Mann-Whitney U 检验评估精油处理组和盐水处理组之间的差异。用 Student's t 检验（双侧）比较时间杀伤试验和酵母及菌丝存活试验中的活菌计数数据。
我们的主要发现是：i）EOMS 在体外实验系统中表现出强大的抑菌和杀菌活性；ii）EOMS 在体内实验系统中对阴道念珠菌病具有一定的保护作用。
本研究首次表明，摩洛哥薄荷精油在体外具有抑菌和杀菌作用，并在阴道感染模型中具有一定的抗真菌活性，这在体内监测成像系统中得到了证实。我们得出结论，我们的研究结果为进一步更广泛的研究奠定了基础，以确定活性 EOMS 成分，这在治疗上有问题的慢性阴道念珠菌病的人类环境中具有很大的应用前景。
