Evaluation of the antifungal effect of thymoquinone on standard Candida strains and cytotoxicity on the fibroblastic cell line, in vitro study: Short Communication

The present study aimed to assess the antifungal effect and compare different concentrations of thymoquinone on standard Candida strains, including Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilopsis, and Candida tropicalis, and investigate the toxicity of thymoquinone on fibroblastic cell lines in laboratory conditions.The present in vitro study was designed to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) of thymoquinone in dilutions of 0.13-70 g/ml on four yeast strains of Candida including Candida albicans (ATCC 10231), Candida glabrata (ATCC2001), Candida tropicalis (ATCC 200956), and Candida parapsilosis (ATCC22019) by broth microdilution method.The MTT test was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of thymoquinone and fibroblast cell line.The results of MIC and MFC examinations of thymoquinone demonstrated that Candida albicans is more sensitive than other strains to thymoquinone (MIC: 2.18 g/ml, MFC: 4.37 g/ml) and cytotoxicity of thymoquinone on fibroblast cell line illustrated that the lowest toxicity was in 31.72 g/ml and the highest toxicity was in 13.07 g/ml.As a result, according to the MIC and MFC, these concentrations were nontoxic on the fibroblast cell line.As evidenced by the results of the present study, thymoquinone in specified concentrations had an inhibitory and fungicidal effect on Candida strains with the most negligible toxicity on the fibroblastic cell line.