Claudia Giordani

Levantamento de extratos vegetais com ação anti-Candida no período de 2005-2013

Among the relevant mycoses in public health, one that stands out is candidiasis, an opportunistic infection that affects humans and animals. The disease was considered uncommon in veterinary medicine, but reports show a significant increase, as well as resistance, to conventional antifungal agents. Therefore, research has been undertaken aimed at finding bioactive substances from plants that fight against Candida. Thus, the objective of this work was to gather the databases SciELO and ScienceDirect with information between the years 2005 and 2013 concerning the anti-Candida activity of different plant extracts. A total of 78 families and 208 species of plants with activity against Candida spp. was found highlighting the Asteraceae, Geraniaceae, Myrtaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Rubiaceae, Verbenaceae and Anacardiaceae families, with dichloromethane, aqueous, ethanol and methanol extracts and fractions and subfractions, being the leaf the most used plant part. The plants described showed anti-Candida activity, but some require very high concentrations of the extracts with little growth inhibition / elimination of these yeasts, with variations related mainly to the method of assessment, type of extract, plant parts and origin of the fungal isolates. The rarity of studies with isolates from animals, mainly clinical cases, draws attention. Finally, we highlight the Asteraceae and Geraniaceae families, which had a greater number of plant species with activity and which may be a source of research against Candida spp.

Atividade antifúngica do óleo essencial de Origanum vulgare frente a Malassezia pachydermatis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of essential oil of Origanum vulgare against clinical isolates of Malassezia pachydermatis. The dried leaves of O. vulgare were purchased from a commercial distributor with certified quality and origin and referred for essential oil extraction and chromatography. The technique for in vitro testing was microdilution (CLSI M27A3) with modifications to phytochemicals and M. pachydermatis. The essential oil of O. vulgare was tested at concentrations from 28 to 0.87mg/mL in Sabouraud broth diluted with 1% of tween 80. All isolates were tested in duplicate. In the chromatographic analysis of the essential oil 12 compounds were identified, and thymol, α-terpinene, 4-terpineol were the major compounds. The MIC and the MFC of the 42 isolates of M. pachydermatis ranged from <0.87 to 7mg/mL with MIC50 and MIC90 values of 1.18 and 3.28 mg/mL, respectively. With this study it was concluded that M. pachydermatis is sensible to O. vulgare essential oil even at low concentrations. Thus, the essential oil of O. vulgare is presented as bioprospecting in the promising new drugs for the treatment of otitis and dermatitis in small animal clinic.

Gastric pythiosis in a dog

BACKGROUND Pythiosis is caused by the agent Pythium insidiosum, an aquatic oomycete of the kingdom Stramenopila. AIMS To describe the symptoms, pathological changes and diagnosis methods of gastric pythiosis in dogs. METHODS A three-year-old female German shepherd, with access to wetlands, was attended due to vomiting and recurrent diarrhea of 30 days of duration. A palpable mass in the abdomen filling the left epigastric region was identified in the clinical examination. Simple and contrasted radiological examination and ultrasound of abdominal cavity were performed. The animal was referred for exploratory laparotomy for the removal of the mass. The extent of the mass prevented from the excision and the animal was euthanized. Samples of the tumor mass were collected and sent for morphological study and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The changes observed in imaging studies were consistent with gastric pythiosis. In cytology and histopathology, non-septate hyphae were identified, and in immunohistochemistry a strong positivity of anti-Pythium antibodies was observed, confirming the diagnosis of pythiosis. CONCLUSIONS Pythiosis in dogs is diagnosed late and tends to evolve in the animals death. The definitive diagnosis is by cytology, histology and immunohistochemistry.

Germicidal activity of plant extracts of Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis against Sporothrix schenckii complex

The literature shows that is a resistance by the microorganisms against commercial products used for the disinfection of contaminated environments. Due to this, the aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of the tincture, aqueous extract (decoction and infusion) and hydroalcoholic extract of Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis, as an alternative to disinfectants, using the technique of direct exposure, against Sporothrix schenckii complex. For this, the direct exposure tests, with fungal isolates from clinical cases pertaining to dogs and cats with sporotrichosis, were used to evaluate the sensitivity of Sporothrix spp. against plants extracts, with the action evaluated in the times of 5, 10 and 15 minutes of exposure . As a positive control, it was used a sterile water solution containing innocuous and disinfectants used to control was sodium hypochlorite alcohol and 70°GL. As a result, it can be shown the sensitivity of the fungal isolates front to tincture of Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis and hydroalcoholic extract of Origanum vulgare at all times of exposure, in 10% concentration of the extract.