Evaluation of the antifungal activity of silver nanoparticles compared to drugs of clinical use, against Malassezia furfur clinical isolates

MUSSIN, JAVIER E.; ROJAS, FLORENCIA D.; ANGIOLELLA, LETIZIA; SOSA, MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES; GIUSIANO, GUSTAVO E.

Workshop; The 4th International workshop of Malassezia; 2020

International Society for Human & Animal Mycology

Skin diseases associated with Malassezia are often chronic and also with a high recurrence rate as a consequence of the non-effective results of both topical and systemic antifungal therapy. Combination of traditional medicine knowledge with nanotechnology opens the doors to the development of new drugs, providing new strategies for the treatment and prevention of malasseziosis. The main objective of this study was to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of silver nanoparticles obtained by green synthesis (AgNP) against 40 isolates of M. furfur and to compare with values obtained using antifungals frequently use for the treatment of malaseziosis. Acanthospermum australe (Loefl.) Kuntze, a medicinal plant used by the indigenous people of northeast Argentina for the treatment of pityriasis versicolor, was used to synthesize stable, spherical and monodisperse AgNP. MIC mode values obtained were: fluconazole = 4 μg / mL; miconazole = 2 μg / mL; amphotericin B = 1 μg / mL; AgNP = 0.125 μg / mL; voriconazole = 0.06 μg / mL; itraconazole = 0.03 μg / mL; ketoconazole = 0.03 μg / mL. AgNP showed a higher inhibitory activity than fluconazole, miconazole, and amphotericin B but lower than itraconazole, voriconazole, and ketoconazole against M. furfur. This work opens the door to the development of AgNP based products in order to improve the topical therapy of skin infections associated with Malassezia spp.