IN VITRO ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF TIMOL AND CARVACROL ON CANDIDA SPECIES
Aim: to evaluate the in vitro action of thymol and carvacrol against the yeasts of Candida albicans ATCC10231 and Candida krusei ATCC34135. Method: A laboratory study was performed to evaluate antifungal activity. The characterization of the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the thymol essential oil was carried out using the technique where the microdilution is performed, in which a plate containing 96 wells is used. The determination of the Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) was performed by dripping 10 μL of each of the concentrations evaluated on Sabouraud agar plates. Results: The MIC of thymol and carvacrol for C. albicans was 40 μg/mL and for Candida krusei it did not present antifungal activity. While the MIC of nystatin was 0.03mg for both species with thymol and carvacrol. Conclusion: Thymol presented satisfactory antifungal activity against the pathogens studied, but carvacrol did not present antifungal activity.