| Summary: | This study was performed to evaluate the antifungal activities of methanolic fractions from the stem bark of Entada spiralis Ridl. against human dermatophytes and yeast-like fungus in vitro. Three types of human dermatophyte, Trichophyton mentagrophytes ATCC 9533, Microsporum gypseum ATCC 24102 and Trichophyton tonsurans ATCC 28942, and one yeast-like fungus, Candida glabrata ATCC 66032, were tested against the methanolic fractions labelled FA1, FA4 and FA5. T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsuran and M. gypseum were susceptible to all tested fractions in a concentration-dependent manner whereas C. glabrata was resistant. Fraction FA1 at a concentration of 400 mg/mL was found to exhibit the highest antifungal activity with the inhibition zone diameter of 22 mm (T. mentagrophytes). This fraction showed a minimum inhibitory concentration MIC of 0.097 mg/mL while the MIC value for the fraction FA4 and fraction FA5 was 3.12 mg/ml and 1.56 mg/ml respectively. Agar overlay bioautography assay results showed that most of the bioactive compounds were found in the fraction FA1. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the stem bark extracts of E. spiralis can be a future source of potent natural antimicrobial drugs for superficial skin diseases. © 2014 Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.
|
|---|