| Congresso Brasileiro de Microbiologia 2023 | Resumo: 963-2 | ||||
Resumo:Dermatophytes are species of pathogenic fungi that have high affinity for keratinized structures that make up nails, skin and hair, causing superficial infections called dermatophytosis. Dermatophytosis is caused largely by the genera Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton. The species that predominate and present greater resistance to antifungal drugs are T. rubrum, T. interdigitale, T. tonsurans and M. canis. In immunocompromised individuals, dermatophytosis can occur as deep lesions or severe systemic infections, since dermatophytes penetrate deeper into the dermis through hair follicles. Drug repositioning is an alternative that can significantly reduce the time and cost of developing new antifungal drugs. The in vitro antifungal activity of antidepressants, belonging to the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, has been evaluated against several fungal pathogens, including Cryptococcus spp., Aspergillus spp., Trichosporon spp. and Candida spp. This study aimed to evaluate in vitro the susceptibility profile of dermatophyte fungi to the antidepressant drugs fluoxetine and sertraline, repositioning these drugs for the treatment of dermatophytosis and characterizing the mechanism of antifungal action of such drugs. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC’s) of antidepressants and antifungals were determined by the broth microdilution method, against clinical isolates of the species, Microsporum canis, Microsporum gypseum and Trichophyton rubrum, and an ATCC strain, Trichophyton mentagrophytes - TME ATCC 9533. The sorbitol assay was used to evaluate the possible mechanism. The in vitro susceptibility analysis showed considerable antidermatopytic activity of antidepressants evaluated, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of fluoxetine of 512 μg/mL and sertraline 32 μg/mL. Both antidepressants suggest antifungal activity at the cellular wall level, since when sorbitol was use in the assay, as an osmotic protector of the fungal cell wall, there was a clear decrease in antifungal activity in vitro with increased MIC’s analyzed. In conclusion, both antidepressant drugs demonstrated antifungal activity, and sertraline was active in lower concentrations. In addition, sorbitol assay suggests a mechanism of action at the cellular wall level. Palavras-chave: dermatophytes, antidepressants, fluoxetine, sertraline Agência de fomento:Microbiology Laboratory of the Federal University of Pampa | |||||