Candida albicans: In vitro Inhibition of Morphological Transition by Analgesic Compounds

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate, in vitro, the effect of some analgesic compounds, which inhibit the activity of cyclooxygenase isoenzymes, on the morphological transition of Candida albicans from unicellular budding yeast to a filamentous form. C. albicans ATCC 10231 cultured in Sabouraud’s dextrose broth supplemented with 20% human serum for 72 h at 30 °C in the presence or absence of tramadol of HCl, ketorlac tromethamine, piroxicam and acetaminophen at concentrations 6.25–200 µg/mL. The morphological transition of C. albicans was assessed microscopically in terms of budding and hyphae formation, daily for four consecutive days. The results showed that neither tramadol HCl nor acetaminophen produced significant inhibitory effects on the morphological transition of C. albicans. Ketorlac tromethamine exerted inconsistent effect on the growth of fungus cells. The inhibitory effect of piroxicam was observed at concentrations 50–100 µg/mL and sustained for four days. The authors conclude that nonselective COX enzyme inhibitors play a role in the morphological transition of
C. albicans.

Keywords: C. albicans, morphological transition, analgesics