The in vivo efficacy of
terbinafine was compared to
lanoconazole and
luliconazole in the topical treatment of
dermatophytosis caused by Trichophyton mentagrophytes using a guinea pig model. Topical antifungal treatment commenced three days post-
infection, and each agent was applied once daily for seven consecutive days. Upon completion of the treatment period, evaluations of clinical and mycological efficacies were performed, as was scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. Data showed that while all tested antifungals demonstrated significant mycological efficacy in terms of eradicating the fungi over untreated control,
terbinafine and
luliconazole showed superior clinical efficacy compared to
lanoconazole (P-values < 0.001 & 0.003, respectively).
Terbinafine demonstrated the highest clinical percent efficacy. SEM analysis revealed hairs from
terbinafine and
lanoconazole-treated animals had near complete clearance of fungi, while samples from
luliconazole-treated animals were covered with debris and few conidia. This study demonstrates that, in general,
terbinafine possessed similar efficacy to
lanoconazole and
luliconazole in the treatment of
dermatophytosis.
Terbinafine tended to have superior clinical efficacy compared to the
azoles tested, although this difference was not statistically significant against
luliconazole. This apparent superiority may be due to the fungicidal activity of
terbinafine compared to the fungistatic effect of the other two drugs.