Antifungal Activity of Xanthones: Evaluation of their Effect on Ergosterol Biosynthesis by High-performance Liquid Chromatography

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2011

Authors

Eugenia Pinto (Author) FFUP; Carlos Afonso (Author) FFUP; Serafim Duarte (Author) Other; Luis Vale Silva (Author) Other; Elisangela Costa (Author) Other; Emilia Sousa (Author) FFUP; Madalena Pinto (Author) FFUP

Journal

Title: Chemical Biology and Drug Design

Vol. 77

Pages: 212-222

ISSN: 1747-0277

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Proceedings

ISI Web of Knowledge - 44 Citations

Scopus - 43 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-TRF

DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-0285.2010.01072.x

Abstract (EN): The increasing resistance of pathogenic fungi to antifungal compounds and the reduced number of available drugs led to the search for therapeutic alternatives among natural products, including xanthones. The antifungal activity of 27 simple oxygenated xanthones was evaluated by determination of their minimal inhibitory concentration on clinical and type strains of Candida, Cryptococcus, Aspergillus and dermatophytes, and their preponderance on the dermatophytic filamentous fungi was observed. Furthermore, a simple and efficient HPLC method with UV detection to study the effect of the active xanthones on the biosynthesis of ergosterol was developed and validated. Using this methodology, the identification and quantification of fungal sterols in whole cells of Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes were accomplished. In summary, 1,2-dihydroxyxanthone was found to be the most active compound against all strains tested, showing its effect on sterol biosynthesis by reducing the amount of ergosterol detected.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 11