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In Vitro and In Vivo Antibiofilm Potential of Eicosane Against Candida albicans

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Abstract

Candida albicans is the most prevalent fungus in humans, producing infections ranging from mucosal to systemic. C. albicans colonizes mucosal surfaces asymptomatically as commensal, but, if the host environment is disrupted, or if the host immune system is compromised, C. albicans can multiply and infect almost all places in the host. The present study was aimed to identify a promising antibiofilm agent against Candida albicans biofilm. Through the molecular docking approach, it was identified that Eicosane was the top hit among the alkanes screened. Furthermore, in vitro analysis revealed that Eicosane at 100 µg/mL was able to inhibit 60% of C. albicans biofilm without inhibiting the growth. Moreover, light microscopic investigation unveiled the significant reduction in the adhesion and colonization of yeast cells to the matrix on Eicosane-treated samples. The CLSM images showing a reduction in biomass and thickness of C. albicans biofilm in the presence of Eicosane were validated using COMSTAT. The results were well corroborated with SEM micrograph in which a pellucid gap between the cells was observed and colonization was considerably reduced. Further from qPCR analysis, the genes responsible for biofilm formation and hyphal growth were found to be downregulated in the presence of Eicosane. Similarly, Eicosane at BIC was able to significantly inhibit the adhesion and colonization of yeast cells on the chorion of the zebrafish embryos. Moreover, the binding ability of Eicosane to ALS3 was revealed through docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Alagappa University for providing research facilities to carry out the research. Additionally, we thank Chimertech Private Limited for their support provided in preparing the manuscript. This project was supported by Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP-2021/315) King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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Author notes

  1. Raja Mohamed Beema Shafreen and Siddharthan Seema share equal contributions.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Raja Mohamed Beema Shafreen & Siddharthan Seema

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Alagappa University, Science Campus, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India

    Raja Mohamed Beema Shafreen, Selvaraj Alagu Lakshmi, Adimoolam Srivathsan & Kannapiran Tamilmuhilan

  3. Department of Biotechnology, School of Science, Kathmandu University, P.O Box: 6250, Dhulikhel, Nepal

    Anupama Shrestha

  4. Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea

    Balamuralikrishnan Balasubramanian

  5. Chimertech Private Limited, Chennai, 600082, India

    Ranjithkumar Dhandapani & Ragul Paramasivam

  6. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box-2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Sami Al Obaid & Saleh H. Salmen

  7. Faculty of Earth Science, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus, Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Mohamad Faiz Mohd Amin

  8. AMR and Nanotherapeutics Lab, Centre for Transdisciplinary Research (CFTR), Department of Pharmacology, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Chennai, India

    Saravanan Muthupandian

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  1. Raja Mohamed Beema Shafreen
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  2. Siddharthan Seema
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Writing Original draft, Validation: Raja Mohamed Beema Shafreen, Siddharthan Seema; Methodology: Selvaraj Alagu Lakshmi; Project Administration: Adimoolam Srivathsan; Formal analysis: Kannapiran Tamilmuhilan; Investigation: Anupama Shrestha; Visualization: Balamuralikrishnan Balasubramanian; Writing review and Editing, Data curation, Software: Ranjithkumar Dhandapani, Ragul Paramasivam; Funding: Sami Al Obaid, Saleh H. Salmen; Supervision: Saravanan Muthupandian

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saravanan Muthupandian.

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This ethical clearance for this study was approved by Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, Alagappa University (Reg NO: 2007/GO/ReBi/S/18/CPCSEA dt 14/03/2018).

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Beema Shafreen, R.M., Seema, S., Alagu Lakshmi, S. et al. In Vitro and In Vivo Antibiofilm Potential of Eicosane Against Candida albicans. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 194, 4800–4816 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-022-03984-8

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