Book of Abstracts (PDF) - International Mycological Association

IMC7 Main Congress Theme III: PATHOGENS AND NUISANCES, FOOD AND MEDICINE Posters
constitutive flavonols of carnation are fungitoxic towards
the tested fungal formae speciales. Besides other fungitoxic
mechanisms, such as the mitochondrial oxidative
phosphorylation inhibition, flavonols may be antifungal
due to their ability to associate as polydentate ligands with
pathogen proteins: only a low solubility ensures a strong
association via phenolic groups, and the low soluble
flavonol aglycones could be therefore more effective, as
complexing agents, than the respective soluble glycosides.
In effect, among the flavonol aglycones, the 4'methoxylated
kaempferide was particularly effective, while
the glycosylated forms were less active than the
corresponding aglycones. The inhibitory activity of the
assayed flavonols was different depending on the fungal
forma specialis, and a common physiochemical basis to
explain the effect of the tested compounds was not found.
871 - Broad spectrum herbal antifungal active against
onychomycosis
M. Patra 1* , S.K. Shahi 1 , K.G. Singh 2 & A. Dikshit 1
1
Biological Product Lab, Botany Department, University of
Allahabad, Kuchery PO, PB No. 2026, Allahabad-211002,
India. -
2
MLN Medical College, Department of
Dermatology, Allahabad, India. - E-mail:
patraindia@rediffmail.com
During antifungal evaluation of some essential oils,
Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb. was found to be most
effective antifungal. The minimum inhibitory
concentrations were found 0.1 µl ml -1 against E. floccosum,
T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and 0.4, 0.5 µl ml -1 against
Candida albicans, Scytalidium dimidiatum respectively.
The oil inhibited potency against heavy doses of inoculum
at 1.0 µl ml -1 concentrations. The oil also have broad
fungitoxic spectrum as it also killed some other fungi at the
range of 0.1-1.0 µl ml -1 concentrations. Our tests proved
that the oil did not cause any adverse effect on human nail
as well as on skin upto 5 µl ml -1 concentration. Further, we
have formulated the oil in the form of antifungal lotion and
ointment (2 µl ml -1 ) and subjected to topical testing on
patients attending Out Patient Department (OPD) of
M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad. 10 patients were
selected on the basis of KOH positive results and
diagnosed as fungal nail infection. After 4th week of
treatment, 60% patients were mycological cure (KOH
negative). At the end of 10th week, all patients cured
mycologically. No KOH negative cases of relapse were
observed when patients were re-examined after two months
following the end of 10th weeks. Thus, the oil in the form
of lotion can be exploited as commercially after
undergoing successful multicenter clinical trials, which is
in progress.
262
Book of Abstracts
872 - Microwave irradiation: a tool to improve the
staining with fluorochromes of Aspergillus fumigatus
conidia
V. Prigione * & V. Filipello Marchisio
Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale Università di Torino,
viale Mattioli 25 - 10125 Torino, Italy. - E-mail:
valeria.prigione@unito.it
Fungal conidia are ubiquitous in the air, where they can be
the major pollutant and sources of infections, allergic
reactions and toxicoses. Microscopy is the only currently
available method for evaluating the total load of fungus
aerosol. This kind of analysis could be made easier by the
use of fluorochromes but, unfortunately, propagules of
most fungi are not stainable or only a small percentage of
the total number fluoresce, owing to their resistant wall. In
this study we tested the use of chemical and physical
treatments, respectively oxidation by the use of sodium
hypochlorite and microwave irradiation, to improve the
staining of A. fumigatus conidia with six different
fluorochromes. We calculated the percentage of stained
conidia respect to the total ones, comparing the percentages
obtained after each treatment with those of the treatment
free samples (control samples). In the control samples
percentage of stained conidia was always lower than 44%;
only Auramine O gave higher percentage (99%). The
treatment with sodium hypochlorite gave high percentages
of stained conidia (up to 99% with DAPI) but more than
30% of them were lost during the following two
centrifugations required to remove the reagent. On the
contrary microwave irradiation always gave percentages
higher than 98% and did not require further treatment. In
addition fluorescence intensity appeared enhanced, making
easier the observations by epifluorescence microscopy.
873 - Flow cytometry, a novel approach to quantitative
assessment of airborne fungal propagules
V. Prigione 1* , G. Lingua 2 & V. Filipello Marchisio 1
1 Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale - Università degli Studi
di Torino, viale Mattioli 25 - 10125 Torino, Italy. -
2 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Avanzate Università
del Piemonte Orientale, corso Borsalino 54 - 15100
Alessandria, Italy. - E-mail: valeria.prigione@unito.it
Current limitations in the methodology for enumeration of
airborne fungal propagules compromise the precision and
accuracy of bioaerosol exposure assessment. Flow
cytometry (FCM) is a tool with great potential for use in
environmental microbiology because of the quantity and
quality of data it provides in a timely fashion. There have
been no reports of the application of FCM to the study of
airborne mycoflora. In this study, FCM was used to count
fungal propagules in laboratory suspensions with
concentrations ranging from 10 3 to 10 6 conidia/ml and in
field samples collected by an impinger device. To verify
the accuracy and the precision of this technique, fungal