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Candida is a commensal fungus of clinical interest that commonly lives in oral cavity and intestine but can become an opportunist microrganism and cause severe infections. A serie of 10 aminochalcones were designed and synthetized to obtain compounds anti-Candida with potent and broad-spectrum activity. The most active compound J34 demonstrated excellent in vitro activity against Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata and Candida krusei with minimum inhibitory concentration between 1.9 and 7.8 µg/mL. The association of aminochalcone J34 with amphotericin B demonstrated synergistic effect against C. albicans, with Fractional Inhibiroty Concentration Index (FICI) value of 0.5. Subinhibitory concentration of J34 inhibited the C. albicans adhesion to human keratinocytes. Treatment with J34 reduced C. albicans biofilm formation, as well as acts on preformed biofilm in concentration-dependent mode. Time-kill curve demonstrated that J34 had fungicidal action after 12 h of treatment. Preliminary mechanism of action study showed J34 interacts with membrane ergosterol but does not act on fungal cell wall of C. albicans. In additon, in vivo studies using Galleria mellonella indicated low toxic effect of chalcone J34 after 72 h of treatment., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: This study evaluated the antifungal activity of cinnamaldehyde on Candida spp. In vitro and in situ assays were carried out to test cinnamaldehyde for its anti- Candida effects, antibiofilm activity, effects on fungal micromorphology, antioxidant activity, and toxicity on keratinocytes and human erythrocytes. Statistical analysis was performed considering α = 5%., Results: The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of cinnamaldehyde ranged from 18.91 μM to 37.83 μM. MIC values did not change in the presence of 0.8 M sorbitol, whereas an 8-fold increase was observed in the presence of ergosterol, suggesting that cinnamaldehyde may act on the cell membrane, which was subsequently confirmed by docking analysis. The action of cinnamaldehyde likely includes binding to enzymes involved in the formation of the cytoplasmic membrane in yeast cells. Cinnamaldehyde-treated microcultures showed impaired cellular development, with an expression of rare pseudo-hyphae and absence of chlamydoconidia. Cinnamaldehyde reduced biofilm adherence by 64.52% to 33.75% ( p < 0.0001) at low concentrations (378.3-151.3 µM). Cinnamaldehyde did not show antioxidant properties., Conclusions: Cinnamaldehyde showed fungicidal activity through a mechanism of action likely related to ergosterol complexation; it was non-cytotoxic to keratinocytes and human erythrocytes and showed no antioxidant activity.

Brazilian organic propolis (BOP) is an unexplored Brazilian propolis that is produced organically and certified according to international legislation. Our results showed that BOP has strong anti-inflammatory effects and acts by reducing nuclear factor κB activation, tumor necrosis factor α release, and neutrophil migration. In addition, BOP6 exhibited antifungal activity on planktonic and biofilm cultures of Candida albicans , Candida glabrata , Candida tropicalis , Candida krusei , and Candida parapsisolis and reduced in vitro yeast cell adhesion to human keratinocytes at sub-inhibitory concentrations. BOP demonstrated significantly low toxicity in Galleria melonella larvae at antifungal doses. Lastly, a chemical analysis revealed the presence of caffeoyltartaric acid, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, quercetin, and gibberellins A7, A9, and A20, which may be responsible for the biological properties observed. Thus, our data indicate that BOP is a promising source of anti-inflammatory and antifungal molecules that may be used as a functional food.

We evaluated the antifungal and antibiofilm potential of the hydroalcoholic extract of bark from Anadenanthera colubrina (vell.) Brenan, known as Angico, against Candida spp. Antifungal activity was evaluated using the microdilution technique through the Minimum Inhibitory and Fungicide Concentrations (MIC and MFC). The antibiofilm potential was tested in mature biofilms formed by Candida species and analyzed through the counting of CFU/mL and scanning electron micrograph (SEM). In vivo toxicity and therapeutic action was evaluated in the Galleria mellonella model. The treatment with the extract, in low doses, was able to reduce the growth of planktonic cells of Candida species. MIC values range between 19.5 and 39 µg/mL and MFC values range between 79 and 625 µg/mL. In addition was able to reduce the number of CFU/mL in biofilms and to cause structural alteration and cellular destruction, observed via SEM. A. colubrina showed low toxicity in the in vivo assay, having not affected the viability of the larvae at doses below 100mg/kg and high potential in the treatment of C. albicans infection. Considering its high antifungal potential, its low toxicity and potential to treatment of infections in in vivo model, A. colubrina extract is a strong candidate for development of a new agent for the treatment of oral candidiasis.