Phytochemical Screening and In Vitro Antifungal Activity of Selected Medicinal Plants against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger in West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance to commercially available medications has become a global issue, yet there is still the possibility of developing new drugs from medicinal plants. As a result, the aims of the present study were to screen secondary metabolites and to evaluate in vitro antifungal activities of Brucea antidysenterica, Aloe vera, and Justicia schimperiana. After the plants were identified, their leaves were collected, washed, dried under the shade, pulverized, and extracted with methanol (99.8%) using the maceration technique. The presence of secondary metabolites in plant extracts was screened using various laboratory protocols. The antifungal activities of the plant extract against reference fungal strains of Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger at concentrations of 200, 100, and 50 mg/mL were assessed using the agar-well diffusion method. Ketoconazole (15 μg) was used as a positive control, while 5% dimethyl sulfoxide and/or 5% Tween 80 were used as negative controls. All tests were conducted in triplicate. Alkaloids, flavonoids, and phenols were secondary metabolites found in all plant extracts. The extract of leaves of B. antidysenterica and J. schimperiana formed a mean zone of inhibition of 15.5 ± 0.5 mm and 15.3 ± 0.58 mm, respectively, against Candida albicans at a concentration of 200 mg/mL, whereas extracts of A. vera leaves formed a 12.3 ± 0.58 mm inhibition zone only against Aspergillus niger at 200 mg/mL. In conclusion, the current study found that B. antidysenterica, A. vera, and J. schimperiana had antifungal activity. In addition, all these plants had a variety of secondary metabolites that possibly have antifungal activities. Studies on in vivo investigations and isolation of specific antifungal compounds from these medicinal plants are suggested.

Comparative bioactive compounds and fourier transform infrared spectroscopic evaluation of Azadirachta indica extracts and its potential as bio-fungicides against plant pathogenic fungi

“…The antifungal and antibacterial activities of plants extracts might be because of the occurrence of secondary metabolites such as amino acids, terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins and alkaloids (Gaurav et al, 2019). The variation between the phytochemicals quantified in the current studies and the reported previous studies might be due to many factors such as solventsolute ratio, temperature and period of the extraction process, extraction process solvent, ripening time of fruit, cultivars variations, geographical areas differences, soil composition where herbs grow, seasons of plant collection and growth stage of plants (Sarbaswarup et al, 2019;Askale et al, 2022).…”

“…These compounds are by nature alkaline and demonstrate pharmacological activities with an extraordinary array (Gaurav et al, 2019). The antimicrobial properties of alkaloids are reported by due to blocking enzyme activity (Askale et al, 2022). Phenols are a class of phytochemicals dispersed in plants that are utilize as antibiotic agents because of their capabilities to break integrity of membrane shape in a diverted manner and stop certain enzymes of electron transport chain (Askale et al, 2022).…”

“…The antimicrobial properties of alkaloids are reported by due to blocking enzyme activity (Askale et al, 2022). Phenols are a class of phytochemicals dispersed in plants that are utilize as antibiotic agents because of their capabilities to break integrity of membrane shape in a diverted manner and stop certain enzymes of electron transport chain (Askale et al, 2022). Flavonoids are shape wise miscellaneous phytochemicals of plants that are recognized to stop the growth development of fungi by reducing protein synthesis, RNA synthesis, cell division, cell wall construction, efflux mediated pumping system, and inducing mitochondrial malfunction, disrupting plasma membrane (Askale et al, 2022).…”

“…Phenols are a class of phytochemicals dispersed in plants that are utilize as antibiotic agents because of their capabilities to break integrity of membrane shape in a diverted manner and stop certain enzymes of electron transport chain (Askale et al, 2022). Flavonoids are shape wise miscellaneous phytochemicals of plants that are recognized to stop the growth development of fungi by reducing protein synthesis, RNA synthesis, cell division, cell wall construction, efflux mediated pumping system, and inducing mitochondrial malfunction, disrupting plasma membrane (Askale et al, 2022). Isoprenoids or terpenoids are miscellaneous class of natural organic substances (hydrocarbon with O and hydrocarbons) with general shape units and several of the common features of fats.…”

Preparation of Sheepskin Unhairing Extracts from Locally Available Plants: Cleaner Leather Processing

“…Mayer's reagent test method was used to process the extracts (1.36 g of mercuric chloride and 5 g of potassium iodide in 100 ml of water). e presence of alkaloids is indicated by the formation of a yellow-colored precipitate [12].…”