Antifungal Activity of Some Medicinal Plant Extracts Against Candida Albicans and Cryptococcus Neoformans

Abstract

The ethanol extracts of clove (Eugenia caryophyllus Bullock & Harrison) and sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linn.) were investigated for their antifungal activity in comparison with eugenol and amphotericin B (AmB) by using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLs) M27-P broth microdilution method. Two medicinal plant extracts, eugenol and amphotericin B were used to determine their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) against 28 clinical isolates of Candida albicans and 25 clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans. The MICs of clove, sweet flag, eugenol and AmB against C. albicans were 17.41+8.64 mg/ml, 28.8+16.32 mg/ml, 12.16+4.53 mg/ml and 0.23+0.1 µg/ml respectively. The MFCs were 67.5+15.39 mg/ml, >75 mg/ml, 15.4+6.47 mg/ml and 0.47+0.21 µg/ml respectively. The same extracts and antifungal drugs which were tested against C. albicans were also tested against C. neoformans. The MICs were 2.43+0.95 mg/ml, 3.02+1.97 mg/ml, 6.28+3.4 mg/ml and 0.28+0.15 µg/ml, respectively. The MFCs were 22.22+12.71 mg/ml, 30.82+27.11 mg/ml, 10.06+4.9 mg/ml and 0.51+0.25 µg/ml respectively. The results showed that C. albicans was significantly (p<0.01) more susceptible to the extract of clove than sweet flag, whereas C. neoformans was significantly susceptible to the clove extract (p>0.05). Moreover, the extract of clove showed significantly (p<0.01) more potent inhibitory activity against C. neoformans than eugenol, while it showed significantly (p<0.01) less inhibitory activity against C. albicans than eugenol. AmB, the drug of choice for invasive infection treatment, remains as one of the most effective antifungal drugs. These data indicate that the extracts of clove and sweet flag were potential fungistatic agents against yeasts, whereas AmB and eugenol showed fungicidal effects.

Antifungal activity of medicinal plant extracts; preliminary screening studies

“…For example, in an analysis by Thirach et al, the antifungal activity of an ethanol extract of Acorus calamus was assessed against 28 clinical isolates of Candida albicans using a broth microdilution technique. The MIC was identified as 28800 ± 16320 mg/l and in this setting Acorus calamus was interpreted as being a potential fungistatic agent (Thirach et al, 2003).…”

“…These plants were chosen based on either traditional usage suggestive of antifungal activity or previous studies that have demonstrated antifungal properties using alcohol extracts (McCutcheon et al, 1994;Jones et al, 2000;Filipowicz et al, 2003;Thirach et al, 2003). The antifungal activity of a commercial preparation of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) oil was also analyzed.…”

Activity of phenolic compounds from plant origin against Candida species

“…albicans 100 mg/mL (Hassawi and Kharma, 2006) Achillea fragantissima C. albicans 150 mg/mL (Hassawi and Kharma, 2006) Acorus calamus C. albicans 28.80 mg/mL (Thirach et al, 2003) Adiantum capillus veneris C. albicans 1 mg/mL * (Ishaq et al, 2014) Allium cepa C. albicans 10 mg/mL * (Doddanna et al, 2013) Allium sativum C. albicans 1 mg/mL * (Wong and Tsang, 2009) Anthemis pseudocotula C. albicans 150 mg/mL (Hassawi and Kharma, 2006) Artemisia herba-alba C. albicans 100 mg/mL (Hassawi and Kharma, 2006) Ballota undulate C. albicans 25 mg/mL (Hashem, 2011) Camellia sinensis C. albicans 10 mg/mL * (Doddanna et al, 2013) Capparis spinosa C. albicans 100 mg/mL * (Mandeel and Taha, 2005) Capsicum annum C. albicans 17.5 mg/mL (Ertürk, 2006) Cassia alata C. albicans 5.60 mg (Timothy et al, 2012) Cassia siamea C. albicans 100 mg/mL C. glabrata 100 mg/mL C. guilliermondii 100 mg/mL C. krusei 100 mg/mL C. parapsilosis 100 mg/mL C. tropicalis 100 mg/mL Caulerpa scalpelliformis C. albicans 100 mg/mL C. glabrata 100 mg/mL C. guilliermondii 100 mg/mL C. krusei 100 mg/mL C. parapsilosis 100 mg/mL C. tropicalis 100 mg/mL …”

Antifungal activity of eugenol on Cryptococcus neoformans biological activity and Cxt1p gene expression

“…The antifungal effects of many organic and natural compounds have been studied against pathogenic fungi [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. According to the literature, eugenol has antifungal activities against C. neoformans, C. albicans, and A. parasiticus [20,32,[35][36][37][38].…”