title: Beneficial effect of Mentha suaveolens essential oil in the treatment of vaginal candidiasis assessed by real-time monitoring of infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vaginal candidiasis is a frequent and common distressing disease affecting up to 75% of the women of fertile age; most of these women have recurrent episodes. Essential oils from aromatic plants have been shown to have antimicrobial and antifungal activities. This study was aimed at assessing the anti-fungal activity of essential oil from Mentha suaveolens (EOMS) in an experimental infection of vaginal candidiasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The in vitro and in vivo activity of EOMS was assessed. The in vitro activity was evaluated under standard CLSI methods, and the in vivo analysis was carried out by exploiting a novel, non-invasive model of vaginal candidiasis in mice based on an in vivo imaging technique. Differences between essential oil treated and saline treated mice were evaluated by the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test. Viable count data from a time kill assay and yeast and hyphae survival test were compared using the Student's t-test (two-tailed).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our main findings were: i) EOMS shows potent candidastatic and candidacidal activity in an in vitro experimental system; ii) EOMS gives a degree of protection against vaginal candidiasis in an in vivo experimental system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows for the first time that the essential oil of a Moroccan plant Mentha suaveolens is candidastatic and candidacidal in vitro, and has a degree of anticandidal activity in a model of vaginal infection, as demonstrated in an in vivo monitoring imaging system. We conclude that our findings lay the ground for further, more extensive investigations to identify the active EOMS component(s), promising in the therapeutically problematic setting of chronic vaginal candidiasis in humans.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Section, Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Perugia, Via del Giochetto, 06122 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pietrella
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Angiolella
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vavala
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rachini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mondello
authors.forename: Rino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ragno
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bistoni
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vecchiarelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects*; D002181:Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D027541:Mentha / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010936:Plant Extracts