| Thymol has a bactericidal effect in vitro as hydrophobic phenolic compounds.Thymol acquired for thyme oil by molecular distillation and purification.Experimental study on the purification of the process conditions of the sesameoil:Pressure of the distillation system was 150 Pa,knifing rotational speed was 300 r/min.Evaporator surface temperature was 45℃.Inlet velocity is 1.0 mL/min.A distillation process is carried out for two times,and the resulting recombination fraction is incorporated into a distillation and redistillation.The total recombinant was divided into acetone,and ethyl alcohol in turn,then we got the thymol purity is more than 98%.In this study,the in vitro data demonstrated concentration-dependent thymol inhibition of C.albicans growth,biofilm formation and mycelium growth during different developmental phases.Due to a growing population of immunosuppressed patients,fungal infections have emerged worldwide as a threat to public health.Fungal infections are a major clinical cause of morbidity and mortality.Candida albicans is considered the most common fungal pathogen to infect humans.Caenorhabditis elegans,as a classic model animal,has been used in the evaluation of natural plant products and screening medicine in vivo due to the simple structure and the clear genetic background.In this study,we explored inhibitory activity of thymol against Candida albicans in Celegans.Established the model of nematode infection of Candida albicans,and then treatment with thymol,aim to analyse inhibition activity of thymol against Candida albicans in C.elegans.With the aid of the C.elegans system performed in vivo assays,the results further showed the ability of thymol to increase C.elegans lifespan during infection,inhibit C.albicans colony formation in the C.elegans intestine,and increase expression levels of host antimicrobial genes.Moreover,among the genes that encode the p38 MAPK signaling pathway,mutation of the pmk-1 or sek-1 gene decreased the beneficial effects of thymol’s antifungal activity against C.albicans and thymol’s maintenance of the innate immune response in nematodes.Western blot data showed the level of phosphorylation of pmk-1 was dramatically decreased against C.albicans.In nematodes,treatment with thymol recovered the dysregulation of pmk-1 and sek-1 genes expression.The phosphorylation level of PMK-1 caused by C.albicans infection was reduced,but treatment with thymol recovered the dysregulation of phosphorylation level of pmk-1.Therefore,thymol may act,at least in part,through the function of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway to protect against C.albicans infection and maintain the host innate immune response to C.albicans.Our results indicate that the p38 MAPK signaling pathway plays a crucial role in regulating the beneficial effects observed after nematodes infected with C.albicans were treated with thymol. |
