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EVALUATION OF SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITY OF LAMIACEAE ESSENTIAL OILS WITH ANTIFUNGAL DRUGS AGAINST C. ALBICANS BY TRACKING THE DYNAMICS OF MICROBIAL DENSITY IN SUSPENSION

NELI ERMENLIEVA ¹, GABRIELA TSANKOVA ¹, SYLVIA STAMOVA ², ANTOINETA TSVETKOVA ³, EMILIA GEORGIEVA ³, SILVIYA MIHAILOVA ³*

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Candida albicans is a common opportunistic fungal pathogen that inhabits healthy people. And it was included in the Critical Priority Group of World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens list (WHO FPPL) in October 2022. The present study aims to confirm the synergistic activity of EO from oregano or thyme with antifungal drugs against C. albicans, by monitoring the dynamics of microbial density in the suspension. The most powerful antifungal action is demonstrated by the combination between thyme EO and nystatin. Oregano oil alone also significantly reduced the density of the microbial population, the lag phase, exponential and stationary phase are distinguished, without reporting a declining phase within the 48-hour follow-up. The results were analysed using IBM SPSS software (version 19) using nonparametric tests (Chi-square χ2 test of independence, Cramer's V). A p-value equal to or less than 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05) was considered statistically significant. Further investigations as potential anticandidal agents will be necessary to expand our knowledge about other Candida cell targets with respect to EOs from thyme and oregano.