Essential oils of Taxandria fragrans and Melaleuca alternifolia have effective antidermatophytic activities in vitro and in vivo that are antagonised by ketoconazole and potentiated in gold nanospheres

Abstract

The investigation of the effects of three essential oils (EOs) from Taxandria fragrans (FRA), Melaleuca alternifolia (TTO) and Boswellia serrata (IF), alone and combined with ketoconazole (KTZ), and their functionalised gold nanoparticles (AuNP) against Trichophyton interdigitale both in vitro and in vivo indicated that EOs presented activity against T. interdigitale. The combination of EOs and KTZ was antagonistic. FRA, TTO, gold nanoparticles capped with T. fragrans (AuNPFRA) and gold nanoparticles capped with M. alternifolia (AuNPTTO) presented antidermatophytic activity in vivo, with the capacity to reduce fungal burden and to preserve tissue architecture; however, combination treatment with KTZ increased fungal burden and caused tissue damage. The combination of EO with KTZ exhibited antagonistic activity and was histologically harmful. In contrast, FRA, TTO, AuNPFRA and AuNPTTO are promising treatments for dermatophytosis.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Dermatophytosis
• T. interdigitale
• essential oil
• gold nanoparticles

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by CAPES, FAPEMIG (Grants APQ-00727-16 and PPM-00061-18) and CNPq (Grants 403006/2016-3 and 440010/2018-7). DAS is a research fellow of the CNPq (Grant 302670/2017-3).