Open AccessSensitivity of Candida albicans to aqueous and alcohol extracts of four medicinal plants
Author(s) -
Mai Abdalla Ali,
Ahmed Faroug Mohammed Alhag,
Awad M. Abdel-Rahim
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of ayurvedic and herbal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2454-5023
DOI - 10.31254/jahm.2017.3307
Subject(s) - matricaria chamomilla , candida albicans , traditional medicine , corpus albicans , origanum , fungus , biology , decoction , antifungal , pathogenic fungus , microbiology and biotechnology , botany , medicine , essential oil
Candida albicansadimorphic fungus that exists as a commensal of warm-blooded animals including humans. Candida albicans infection raises a number of challenges including resistance of Candida albicans to the commonly used antifungaland the higher cost of the antifungal agents.The aim of this study is to test the fungus Candida albicans sensitivity to some medicinal plants namely, Solenostemma argel (Hargel), Matricaria chamomilla (Chamomile), Origanum majorana (Marzanjosh) and Guiera senegalensis (Gebbish). The pure culture of the fungus was obtained from the Medical laboratory - University of Gezira, Sudan. The plants were obtained from Wad Medani herbal local market. Both aqueous and alcoholic extracts were prepared from the four herbs (20%, 35% and 75%) concentrations and (2%,3%,4%,5%,6% and 10%). The sensitivity was tested, using the disc diffusion test that measures the inhibition zones produced by the different herbs at the different concentrations and extraction methods used against the C.albicans. The anticandidal activity ofthe aqueous extract of the different herbs did not detect, regardless of the concentration used, while the alcoholic extracts showed remarkable anticandidal activity and the herbal plant Guiera senegalensis gave thehighest inhibition (14.3mm) at the highest concentration (10%), followed by Matricaria chamomilla with an average inhibition zone of 14 mm andSolenostemmaargelwith average inhibition zone of 13 mm and Origanum majorana with average inhibition zone of 12.6 mm. Significant differences were found between the four herbs at the different concentrations (P value = 0.002).Moreover, increasing the concentration was found to improve the antifungal activity of the herbs and gave better fungal inhibition.Further studies are recommended to investigate the role of the different extraction solvents on the efficiency of the herbs.