IIT Hyderabad develops essential oil-based drug delivery systems to treat fungal infections Hyderabad

Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad on Tuesday said it has developed an essential-oil- based drug delivery systems to treat fungal infections. This medication can even counter fungi that have developed resistance to conventional antifungal drugs, an IIT-H release said.

The research, led by Mudrika Khandelwal, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, was published in the international peer-reviewed journal' Materialia', it said. With the results of this work, the researchers are developing prototype antifungal hygiene products with financial support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, set up by the Department of Biotechnology.

Highlighting the need to develop alternate,non-resistance inducing treatment options for fungal diseases, Khandelwal said: "Given the prevalence of fungal infections such as vaginal infections, diaper rash, athletes foot and nail fungus caused by the Candida family of fungi, drug resistance can become life-threatening." The IIT Hyderabad team turned to natural products to solve this problem. They chose polylactic acid microcapsules to encapsulate the essential oil ingredients.

Polylactic acid polymers are biocompatible and biodegradable and are already widely used in the medical field, the release said. The researchers found that using microcapsules alone as the carrier could cause uncontrolled, burst release of the ingredients.

To delay the release of the active principles, they designed another level of protection. The polylactic acid microcapsules that contained the active substances were further incorporated into a secondary barrier made of nanofibrous bacterial cellulose, it said.

In addition to this, the researchers also enhanced the anti-fungal activity of their formulation by using synergistic mixtures of thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol. Khandelwal said IIT-H was developing anti-fungal panty liners to mitigate vaginal candidiasis, which could also be used as a transdermal patch/mucoadhesive patch to treat skin and mucocutaneous infections without inducing resistance in the fungal species PTI VVK APR APR APR.