Anti-Candida activity of 1-18 fragment of the frog skin peptide esculentin-1b: in vitro and in vivo studies in a Caenorhabditis elegans infection model.

Candida albicans represents one of the most prevalent species causing life-threatening fungal infections. Current treatments to defeat Candida albicans have become quite difficult, due to their toxic side effects and the emergence of resistant strains. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are fascinating molecules with a potential role as novel anti-infective agents.

Inhibition of microbial growth by carbon nanotube networks.

In the last years carbon nanotubes have attracted increasing attention for their potential applications in the biomedical field as diagnostic and therapeutic nano tools. Here we investigate the antimicrobial activity of different fully characterized carbon nanotube types (single walled, double walled and multi walled) on representative pathogen species: Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the opportunistic fungus Candida albicans. Our results show that all the carbon nanotube types possess a highly significant antimicrobial capacity, even though they have a colony forming unit capacity and induction of oxidative stress in all the microbial species to a different extent.