Therapeutic effects of crude and degummed Citrullus lanatus seed oil on candidiasis in immunosuppressed rats

Victor Onukwube Apeh

doi:10.21767/2348-9502-C1-003

Therapeutic effects of crude and degummed Citrullus lanatus seed oil on candidiasis in immunosuppressed rats

Joint Event on 3^rd World Congress on NATURAL PRODUCTS CHEMISTRY AND RESEARCH & 12^th WORLD PHARMA CONGRESS
October 16-18, 2017 Budapest, Hungary

Victor Onukwube Apeh

University of Nigeria, Nigeria

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Am J Ethnomed

DOI: 10.21767/2348-9502-C1-003

Abstract

Vegetable oil has become an integral part of our diet, but relatively little is known about their antifungal potential. The present work was designed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of crude and degummed Citrullus lanatus (Watermelon) seed oil (CLSO) in the treatment of experimental oral candidiasis induced by Candida albicans in immunosuppressed rats. This anticandidal activity was analyzed by microbiological and histopathological techniques at days 7 and 14; it was compared with that of fluconazole, which was used as a positive control. Microbiologically, CLSO significantly (p<0.05) reduced the number of Colony Forming Units (CFU) sampled from the kidney tissue of rats treated for fourteen consecutive days, compared to group 3 (untreated control) rats. Treatment with fluconazole gave similar results at day 7 but exacerbated at day 14. Histologically, group 3 showed multifocal aggregation and widespread distribution of fungal blastospores (arrow) appearing singly or in small clusters within the renal parenchyma. While minimal fungal blastospores present in the renal parenchyma; fungal blastospores appearing singly within the glomeruli and renal tubules was seen in CLSO-treated animals, but minimal blastospore was less in degummed CLSO than in crude CLSO. Thus, the histological data were confirmed by the microbiological tests for crude and degummed CLSO, but not for the fluconazole-treated group which showed multifocal and widespread distribution of blastospores at day 14. Therefore, CLSO could be considered as an antifungal agent with degummed CLSO being more potent and could be proposed as therapeutic agents for oral candidiasis.