Correlation between Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Clausena lansium Essential Oil against Candida spp.

Essential oils (EOs) have been shown to have a diversity of beneficial human health effects.Clausenais a large and highly diverse genus of plants with medicinal and cosmetic significance. The aim of this study was to analyze the composition ofClausena lansiumEOs and to investigate their potential antifungal effects. The chemical compositions ofClausena lansiumEOs obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 101 compounds were identified among the diverse extracts ofC. lansium. EOs of leaves and pericarps from different cultivars (Hainan local wampee and chicken heart wampee) collected in Hainan (China) were classified into four clusters based on their compositions. These clusters showed different antifungal activities against fiveCandidaspecies (C. albicans,C. tropicalis,C. glabrata,C. kruseiandC. parapsilosis) using the disc diffusion method.Clausena lansiumEOs of pericarps displayed noteworthy antifungal activitives against all the testedCandidastrains with inhibition zone diameters in the range of 11.1–23.1 mm. EOs of leaves showed relatively low antifungal activities with inhibition zone diameters in the range of 6.5–22.2 mm. The rank order of antifungal activities among the four EO clusters was as follows: Cluster IV> Cluster III > Cluster I ≥ Cluster II. These results represent the first report about the correlation between chemical composition ofC. lansiumEOs and antifungal activity. Higher contents of β-phellandrene, β-sesquiphellandrene and β-bisabolene in EOs of pericarps were likely responsible for the high antifungal activity of Cluster IV EOs. Taken together, our results demonstrate the chemical diversity ofClausena lansiumEOs and their potential as novel antifungal agents for candidiasis caused byCandidaspp. Furthermore, the obtained results showing a wide spectrum of antifungal activities provide scientific evidence for the traditional use of these plants.Keywords:correlation;Clausena lansium;essential oil;antifungal activity;Candidaspp.