title: Imidazolium salts with antifungal potential against multidrug-resistant dermatophytes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the antidermatophytic action of a complementary set imidazolium salts (IMS), determining structure-activity relationships and characterizing the IMS toxicological profiles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The susceptibility evaluation of 45 dermatophytic clinical isolates, treated in vitro with eleven different IMS (ionic compounds) and commercial antifungals (nonionic compounds), was performed by broth microdilution, following the standard norm of CLSI M38-A2. All dermatophytes were inhibited by IMS, where the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were observed for salts with n-hexadecyl segment in the cation side chain, containing either the chloride or methanesulfonate anion. 1-n-Hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C16 MImCl) and 1-n-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate (C16 MImMeS) acted as fungicides, even in extremely low concentrations, wherein C16 MImMeS exerted this effect on 100% of the tested dermatophytes. Some of these IMS provoked evident alterations on the fungi cell morphology, causing a total cell damage of ≥ 70%. Importantly, none of the screened IMS were cytotoxic, mutagenic or genotoxic to human leucocyte cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report demonstrates for the first time the strong antifungal potential of IMS against multidrug-resistant dermatophytes, without presenting toxicity to human leucocyte cells at MIC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expressive antifungal activity of IMS, combined with the in vitro nontoxicity, makes them promising compounds for the safe and effective treatment of dermatophytoses, mainly when this skin mycosis is unresponsive to conventional drugs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Mycology, Department of Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Dalla Lana
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Technological Processes and Catalysis, Institute of Chemistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Donato
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Product and Process Optimization, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bündchen
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Biochemistry, Immunology and Toxicology, Universidade Federal do Pampa - UNIPAMPA, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Guez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Mycology, Department of Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: V Z
authors.initials: VZ
authors.lastname: Bergamo
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Biochemistry, Immunology and Toxicology, Universidade Federal do Pampa - UNIPAMPA, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: L F S
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Center for Studies in Biochemistry, Immunology and Toxicology, Universidade Federal do Pampa - UNIPAMPA, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Technological Processes and Catalysis, Institute of Chemistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Schrekker
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Mycology, Department of Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fuentefria
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003883:Arthrodermataceae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D003881:Dermatomycoses / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D026141:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Fungal; D006801:Humans; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D007093:Imidazoles
keywords: antidermatophytic activity; imidazolium salts; ionic drugs; multidrug-resistant dermatophytes; toxicity