Antifungal activity of extracts and essential oils of medicinal plants

from Dir Kohistan of Pakistan

Abdul Khaliq Jan and Mohammad Rasul Jan
Research Centre, University of Malakand, N-WFP, Pakistan
Email: abdukhaliq@gmail.com; Phone: +92-944-885479; Fax: +92-944-885805

Summary

Currently the interest in antimicrobials from plant has been emerging because the plants
are the sophisticated source of novel and environmentally safe antimicrobial agents. As
only a very small fraction of the known flora of the world has been evaluated for the
presence of antifungal constituents so the efforts are necessary to investigate plants for
the discovery of antifungal drugs. The aim of current investigation was to evaluate the
antifungal activity of the essential oils and methanolic extracts of medicinal plants from
high altitudes of the northern areas of Pakistan. The extracts from fourteen and the
essential oils from four plants were chosen for antifungal screening against five fungal
strains includes Candida albicans ATCC 2091, Aspergillus flavus ATCC 32611,
Microsporum canis ATCC 11622, Fusarium solani 11712 and Candida glaberata ATCC
90030,using the hole diffusion method while Miconazole and amphotericin B were used
as standard antibiotics. The extracts exhibited moderate to significant antifungal activity
against Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporum canis and Fusarium solani
while Candida albicans and Candida glaberata showed resistance against inhibition.
GCMS techniques were used to investigate the constituents of essential oils.

Key words: antifungal activity; medicinal plants; hole diffusion method; GCMS