Therapeutic analysis of organic acids on experimental dermatophytosis in guinea pigs

The purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic efficacy of citric and tartaric acids on experimental dermatophytosis in guinea pigs. In this study, the susceptibility of Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes to citric and tartaric acids was assessed using the macrodilution broth method. In the animal experiments, a cream consisting of the mixed acids was topically applied once per day for ten consecutive days, beginning five days following infection. Animals in a positive control group were treated with 1% clotrimazole cream. The results of this study showed that application of the mixed acid cream led to a significant improvement in guinea pigs suffering from dermatophytosis (P < 0.05). A similar improvement in local symptoms was achieved in the animals treated with 1% clotrimazole cream. These results indicate that organic acids such as citric and tartaric acids can potentially act as topical antifungal agents and may represent a valuable new approach in dermatophytosis.