P8 - Marine fungi exhibit antimicrobial activity against human oral pathogens

The emergence of resistance to antibiotics and antimycotics has become a challenge in the treatment of infectious diseases, including infections of the oral cavity. Marine fungi are a source of novel biologically active compounds, namely in what concerns the development of antimicrobial and anticancer solutions. Our study aimed to test the antimicrobial activity and the cytotoxicity of the extracts of the two recent identified species of marine fungi, Penicillum lusitanum and Aspergillus affinis. Candida spp. and Enterococcus faecalis isolated from oral pathologies were included to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of the marine fungi by the disk diffusion assay. The cytotoxicity of the effective concentrations of the extract was tested using the Vero cell line (ECACC 88020401, African Green Monkey Kidney cells, GMK clone), according to the ISO 10993-5. The extracts of P. lusitanum and A. affinis were active against C. albicans and E. faecalis, respectively. Penicillum lusitanum active extracts are non-cytotoxic, in contrast to A. affinis extracts that showed high cytotoxic effects on Vero cells, for all concentrations tested. The results on the biological characterization of the P. lusitanumextract are promising and support the development of new disinfecting solutions that may be used during root canal therapy cleaning and shaping.