Introduction: Oral candidiasis is the most common human fungal infection resulting from infection of the oral cavity by yeast-like fungus, candida. Its treatment by available topical or systemic antifungal drugs has several problems including toxicity and the development of drug resistance. Hence recent studies have given much attention to molecules from natural sources. Therefore, curcumin is considered one of the promising natural antifungal drugs. It has antifungal properties, but its poor solubility in aqueous solvents results in poor oral bioavailability. To improve the properties of curcumin, recent trails used nanotechnology. The size of nanoparticles can help them to gain entry into cells increasing its solubility and improving its bioavailability.
Objectives: To evaluate the use of topical application of nanocurcumin in treatment of oral candidiasis and compare it to curcumin and nystatin in a murine model.
Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine female mice were randomly divided into three groups of 13 animals each after induction of oral candidiasis. Group 1 received nanocurcumin at 64 µg/ml. Group 2 received curcumin at 128 µg/ml. Group 3 received nystatin 100000 U/ml. All animals were received treatment topically twice daily for 10 days. The clinical evaluation and microbiological analysis were at baseline, day 5 and day 10.
Results: There was no statistical differences between the three studied groups in the number of cured animals at the end of the treatment period (p=0.358).
Conclusion: Nanocurcumin has a good antifungal effect but further research is needed to get the maximum benefits of these nanoparticles.