Research Article Evaluation of Anti-Candida Activity of Vitis vinifera L. Seed Extracts Obtained from Wine and Table Cultivars Giovanna Simonetti, 1 Anna Rita Santamaria, 2 Felicia Diodata D’Auria, 1 Nadia Mulinacci, 3 Marzia Innocenti, 3 Francesca Cecchini, 4 Eva Pericolini, 5 Elena Gabrielli, 5 Simona Panella, 1 Donato Antonacci, 6 Anna Teresa Palamara, 1 Anna Vecchiarelli, 5 and Gabriella Pasqua 2 1 Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy 2 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy 3 Department of NEUROFARBA, Section of Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Sciences and Multidisciplinary Centre of Research on Food Sciences, Florence University, Via Ugo Schif 6, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019 Florence, Italy 4 CRA Agricultural Research Council, Research Unit for Enology in Central Italy, Via Cantina 12, Sperimentale 1, Velletri, 00049 Rome, Italy 5 Department of Experimental Medicine, Microbiology Section, University of Perugia, Via Gambuli, Polo Unico Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, 06132 Perugia, Italy 6 CRA Agricultural Research Council, Research Unit for Table Grapes and Wine Growing in Mediterranean Environment, Via Casamassima 148, Turi, 70010 Bari, Italy Correspondence should be addressed to Gabriella Pasqua; gabriella.pasqua@uniroma1.it Received 5 December 2013; Accepted 27 March 2014; Published 23 April 2014 Academic Editor: Aramati B. Reddy Copyright © 2014 Giovanna Simonetti et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For the irst time, grape seed extracts (GSEs), obtained from wine and table cultivars of Vitis vinifera L., cultured in experimental ields of Lazio and Puglia regions of Italy and grown in diferent agronomic conditions, have been tested on 43 Candida species strains. We demonstrated a signiicant correlation between the content of the lavan-3-ols in GSEs extracts, with a polymerization degree ≥4, and anti-Candida activity. Moreover, we demonstrated that GSEs, obtained from plants cultured with reduced irrigation, showed a content of polymeric lavan-3-ols >250 mg/g with geometric mean MIC values between 5.7 and 20.2 mg/L against Candida albicans reference strains. GSE, showing 573 mg/g of polymeric lavan-3-ols, has been tested in an experimental murine model of vaginal candidiasis by using noninvasive in vivo imaging technique. he results pointed out a signiicant inhibition of Candida albicans load 5 days ater challenge. hese indings indicate that GSEs with high content of polymeric lavan-3-ols can be used in mucosal infection as vaginal candidiasis. 1. Introduction Candida species are major human opportunistic fungal pathogens that cause both mucosal and deep tissue infections. he frequency of mucosal and cutaneous fungal infections has dramatically increased worldwide. Infection caused by Candida spp. afects 70–75% of women at least once during their life. Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis occurs in 5% of women with Candida vaginitis [1, 2]. Most of these infections are caused by Candida albicans (C. albicans) and among non- albicans Candida spp., C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, and C. krusei. Azoles are the most common antifungal agents available to treat topical Candida infections. However, these antifungal drugs have several defects related to clinical usage, such as low eicacy and side efects. herefore, there is an urgent need of new antifungal agents [3]. Natural anti-infective agents represent a promising approach for the treatment of Candida infections [4]. Phytomedicine, which has historically been an important aspect of traditional medicine in nonindustrialized countries, is now becoming an integral part of healthcare in industrialized countries. Plants are the source of thousands of new phytochemicals, and diferent strategies can be applied to Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 127021, 11 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/127021