AUTHOR=Priya Arumugam , Selvaraj Anthonymuthu , Divya Dass , Karthik Raja Ramalingam , Pandian Shunmugiah Karutha 

TITLE=In Vitro and In Vivo Anti-infective Potential of Thymol Against Early Childhood Caries Causing Dual Species Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2021.760768

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2021.760768

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p>Early childhood caries (ECC), a severe form of caries due to cross-kingdom interaction of <italic>Candida albicans</italic> and <italic>Streptococcus mutans</italic>, is a serious childhood dental disease that affects majority of the children with poor background. The present study investigated the anti-infective potential of thymol against <italic>C. albicans</italic> and <italic>S. mutans</italic> dual species for the management of ECC. Thymol, a plant derivative of the monoterpene group, has been well known for its numerous biological activities. Thymol at 300 μg/ml concentration completely arrested growth and proliferation of dual species of <italic>C. albicans</italic> and <italic>S. mutans.</italic> Rapid killing efficacy of pathogens, within a span of 2 min, was observed in the time kill assay. In addition, at sub-inhibitory concentrations, thymol effectively diminished the biofilm formation and virulence of both <italic>C. albicans</italic> and <italic>S. mutans</italic> such as yeast-to-hyphal transition, hyphal-to-yeast transition, filamentation, and acidogenicity and acidurity, respectively, in single and dual species state. qPCR analysis was consistent with virulence assays. Also, through the invertebrate model system <italic>Galleria mellonella</italic>, <italic>in vivo</italic> toxicity and efficacy of the phytocompound was assessed, and it was found that no significant toxic effect was observed. Moreover, thymol was found to be proficient in diminishing the infection under single and dual state in <italic>in vivo</italic> condition. Overall, the results from the present study illustrate the anti-infective potential of thymol against the ECC-causing dual species, <italic>C. albicans</italic> and <italic>S. mutans</italic>, and the applicability of thymol in medicated dentifrice formulation<italic>.</italic></p>