title: Antifungal Effect of Lavender Essential Oil (Lavandula angustifolia) and Clotrimazole on Candida albicans: An In Vitro Study.
abstract: Background. The treatment of candidiasis infections is an important problem in the health care system. This study aimed to investigate the in vitro effect of lavender essential oil and clotrimazole on isolated C. albicans from vaginal candidiasis. Materials and Methods. In this clinical trial, C. albicans isolated from the vaginal discharge samples was obtained. Results. The pairwise comparison showed that lavender and clotrimazole had a significant difference; this difference in the lavender group was lower than clotrimazole. But, after 48 hours, there was no difference seen between groups. There was a significant difference between clotrimazole and DMSO groups. Comparing the changes between groups based on the same dilution, at 24 h and 48 h in clotrimazole group, showed a significant difference two times in the fungal cell count that its average during 48 h was less than 24 h. A significant difference was observed between the two periods in lavender group, only at the dilutions of 1/20 and 1/80. The average fungal cell count after 48 h was also lower in lavender group. Conclusions. Given that the lavender has antifungal activity, this can be used as an antifungal agent. However, more clinical studies are necessary to validate its use in candida infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Fereshteh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Behmanesh
authors.affiliation: Infertility and Reproductive Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Hajar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pasha
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Microbiology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Asghar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sefidgar
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taghizadeh
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Center, Department of Pharmacology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Akbar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Moghadamnia
authors.affiliation: Infertility and Reproductive Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Hajar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adib Rad
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Leyla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shirkhani