Antifungal effect of Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad essential oil on oral candidiasis in immunosuppressed rats

The antimicrobial, antibacterial, antioxidant, antihyperlipidaemic, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Satureja khuzestanica (Lamiaceae) have been investigated in numerous studies. The antifungal effects of S. khuzestanica essential oil (SKJO) in immunosuppressed rats suffering from oral candidiasis were investigated. A fungal suspension with a density of 3×108 CFU/ml was taken from the isolate of a case with acute vaginitis. In order to achieve a medicinal formulation, accurate twice the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of SKJO and 10 times MIC of nystatin was used with 0.8% agar as a base material. In this study, 35 rats divided into 5 groups each of 7 were used. The assessment of level of infection and specification of the effects of treatment were performed using microbiological and histopathological methods as well as clinical examinations. Our results show that carvacrol is the main compound of SKJ essential oil. Lesions completely disappeared in both treatment groups (SKJO and nystatin) after 8 days of treatment. Furthermore, in groups treated with SKJO and nystatin, the quantities of mean logarithm of colony forming unit (CFU) were 85.62% and 90.62%, respectively, in comparison with placebo group. Also, histopathological properties suggested no infection in groups who had clean and normal dorsal tongue mucosa. Using SKJO with twice accuracy it was concluded that MIC in immunosuppressed rats was quite successful in a time of a week and equal with that of a nystatin treatment with an accuracy of 10 times the MIC.