AUTHOR=Manoharan Ranjith Kumar , Lee Jin-Hyung , Lee Jintae 

TITLE=Antibiofilm and Antihyphal Activities of Cedar Leaf Essential Oil, Camphor, and Fenchone Derivatives against Candida albicans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01476

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.01476

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Candida albicans</italic> can form biofilms composed of yeast, hyphal, and pseudohyphal elements, and <italic>C. albicans</italic> cells in the hyphal stage could be a virulence factor. The present study describes the chemical composition, antibiofilm, and antihyphal activities of cedar leaf essential oil (CLEO), which was found to possess remarkable antibiofilm activity against <italic>C. albicans</italic> but not to affect its planktonic cell growth. Nineteen components were identified in CLEO by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and phenolics were the main constituents. Of these, camphor, fenchone, fenchyl alcohol, α-thujone, and borneol significantly reduced <italic>C. albicans</italic> biofilm formation. Notably, treatments with CLEO, camphor, or fenchyl alcohol at 0.01% clearly inhibited hyphal formation, and this inhibition appeared to be largely responsible for their antibiofilm effects. Transcriptomic analyses indicated that camphor and fenchyl alcohol downregulated some hypha-specific and biofilm related genes (<italic>ECE1, ECE2, RBT1</italic>, and <italic>EED1</italic>). Furthermore, camphor and fenchyl alcohol reduced <italic>C. albicans</italic> virulence in a <italic>Caenorhabditis elegans</italic> nematode model. These results demonstrate CLEO, camphor, and fenchyl alcohol might be useful for controlling <italic>C. albicans</italic> infections.</p>