Antagonistic action of lipid components of membranes from Candida albicans and various other lipids on two imidazole antimycotics, clotrimazole and miconazole.

The growth-inhibitory activity of two imidazole antimycotics, clotrimazole and miconazole, against Candida albicans was significantly reversed when lipid extracts from protoplast membranes of the same organism were added to the assay medium together with the drugs. Of four major classes of lipids further separated from them, viz., phospholipids, triglycerides, sterol esters, and free sterols, the former two were capable of counteracting both drugs, whereas the latter two were not. However, even with phospholipids or triglycerides, no antagonism was noted when they were saturated by catalytic hydrogenation before use. The antagonistic effect of varying classes of commercial lipids, including phospholipids, acylglycerides, sterols, and fatty acids, was also studied by means of the agar diffusion technique. Significant antagonism to both drugs was observed with: (i) phospholipids with an unsaturated acyl group; (ii) acylglycerides, the ester portion of which consists of unsaturated fatty acid; (iii) ultraviolet-activated sterols; and (iv) unsaturated fatty acids of cis-configuration. By contrast, none of the saturated phospholipids and acylglycerides nor sterols was effective as an antagonist. With the exception only of lauric acid, all of a series of saturated fatty acids and unsaturated trans-fatty acids ranging from C(8) to C(18) in chain length were either minimally effective or completely ineffective. Essentially, there was no qualitative difference between clotrimazole and miconazole in the response to these various lipids.