Fungicidal effect of resveratrol on human infectious fungi

Resveratrol, a phenolic antioxidant found in grapes, has been known to mediate various biological activities on the human body. In the present study, we tested the antifungal activity of resveratrol against human pathogenic fungi before carrying out further studies to elucidate the antifungal mechanism(s) of resveratrol. Resveratrol displayed potent antifungal activity against human pathogenic fungi at concentration levels of 10-20 mu g/ml. Furthermore, time-kill curve exhibited fungicidal effect of resveratrol on C. albicans, but the compound had no hemolytic activity against human erythrocytes. The destruction of C. albicans cells by resveratrol was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. These results suggest that resveratrol could be employed as a therapeutic agent to treat fungal infections of humans.