In vitro Antifungal Activity of Thymus vulgaris Essential Oil nanoemulsion

Abstract Background An essential oil derived from the evergreen plant Thymus vulgaris acts as an antifungal agent with strong antimicrobial activity, but it has low water solubility. The current study therefore aimed to enhance the solubility of thyme essential oil by formulating it into a nanoemulsion and investigating its effectiveness on a broad range of fungi. Method The identification of the compositions of essential oils was performed using GC-MS. Thyme essential oil nanoemulsions (TV EO-NEs) were prepared by using a high-pressure homogenization method. Both viability and cytotoxicity outcomes on Human fetal foreskin fibroblast cells were gauged by different concentrations of Thymus vulgaris essential oils and TV EO-NEs after 24 and 48 h. Antifungal susceptibility tests were carried out based on the modified CLSI M60 document for yeasts and CLSI M28-A3 documents for filamentous fungi. Results Thyme essential oil was mainly composed of thymol (22.10%), p-cymene (21.31%), carvacrol (13.02%), carvacrol acetate (6.72%), and linalool (5.58 %). The TV EO-NEs were spherical with a mean diameter of 127.6 ± 62.52 nm and zeta potential of −9.82 ± 6.07 mV. The MIC90 for C. albicans and C. glabrata isolates was 0.031 µg/ml and 0.0625 µg/ml for C. parapsilosis. Also, MIC90 for both dermatophytes and Aspergillus fumigatus isolates was determined to be 0.016 µg/ml. For yeasts and filamentous fungi, a significant reduction in MIC values was observed using TV EO-NEs (p  Conclusion The study highlighted T. vulgaris and thymol to be promising alternatives for the treatment of cutaneous mycoses especially when the etiological agents are resistant to conventional antifungal drugs.