Evaluation of the in vitrofungicidal activity of the dynamized essential oil of Aloysia polystachyabefore and after freezing

The method of preserving substances of natural origin should not only maintain the microbiological safety of the product but also the integrity of its therapeutic potential. Essential oils obtained from plants are complex mixtures of substances and it issuggested to keep them under refrigeration for better conservation. On the other hand, homeopathic mother tincture prepared from plant is kept at room temperature. Aim: This work aimed to evaluate if the freezing process changes the in vitro antifungal activity potential of the homeopathic preparation Aloysia polystachya1CH against Candida albicans. Methodology:The inoculum of C. albicansATCC 10231 was cultivated in culture médium Sabouroud (Himedia®), standardized on a spectrometer and distributed in a 96-well plate. Then, A. polystachya1CH was added to the wells, prepared accordingtothe Brazilian Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (FHB, 3rd edition) from A. polystachya essencial oil. An aliquot of this homeopathic preparation was frozen and after 40 days it was submitted to the same methodology for evaluation of the antifungal activity. After incubation, the plates were read with triphenyltetrazolic (TTC) (Vetec®). Results and discussion: The results of the in vitroevaluation showed that the freezing process retained the antifungal activity of the dynamized essential oil of A. polystachya1CH against C. albicans. Conclusion: Under the conditions evaluated in this study, the freezing method presented as a viable method of conservation of dynamized plant material.

Cationic topical formulations tested in high dilutions offers protective effects in fibroblast cells culture

Topical administration is a simple and comfortable form of cutaneous administration of drugs. However, in this route of administration the drug needs to overcome the barrier posed by the skin to reach an effective concentration. For this reason, many topical formulations are developed with a cationic component. The promotion of absorption occurs due to the disruption of the stratum corneum. But this cationic component has also high irritating potential to the skin. The biotherapics are medicines prepared from a toxic product or etiologic agent, following the homeopathic pharmacopoeia technique, and they are used mainly in cases of hipersensitization. In this experiment, high dilutions (HD) obtained from a cationic formulation were prepared and evaluated considering cell viability in “in vitro” mouse fibroblast (L929) culture cells model by a colorimetric MTT assay. No signs of toxicity were observed, which demonstrates the safety of these HD preparations to the healthy cells. The effectiveness of these HD was also investigated in cells damaged by cationic formulations. The results demonstrated that the HD 30c was the most effective preparation in preventing the cell damage caused by the tested irritating product, increasing cell viability from 56.6% (damaged cells) to 100% (similar to negative control group, p>0.05). These results provide evidence of the positive action of high dilutions against the exposure to a cytotoxic agent.