Abstract

Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic fungal infection that evolved to an important cause of morbidity and mortality in recent years. Even with advances in medicine, the treatment of ringworm still presents a therapeutic system with limited availability of antifungal agents, and so, research is needed to identify new agents fungistatic or fungicides effectives. The natural products are known to represent an arsenal of compounds, some with antifungal properties. Thus, this study aimed investigates the antifungal activity in vitro of the essential oil of Laurus nobilis L. (blonde) against Cryptococcus neoformans strains. The chemical composition of the oil was analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC / MS) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined by the broth microdilution techniques. The MIC100 of essential oil were 256 𝜇g/mL and the MFC50 was 1024 𝜇g/mL. In conclusion the essential oil showed in vitro antifungal potential against strains of C. neoformans.

Key words: Essential oil, antifungal, Cryptococcus, Laurus nobilis