IMR Press / FBL / Volume 27 / Issue 9 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2709274
Open Access Original Research
Tropical Medicinal Plant Extracts from Indonesia as Antifungal Agents against Candida Albicans
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1 Biotechnology of Tropical Medicinal Plants Research Group, Universitas Airlangga, 60115 Surabaya, Indonesia
2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, 60115 Surabaya, Indonesia
3 University CoE-Research Center for Bio-Molecule Engineering, Universitas Airlangga, 60115 Surabaya, Indonesia
4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, 60115 Surabaya, Indonesia
*Correspondence: almando.geraldi@fst.unair.ac.id (Almando Geraldi); yosephine-s-w-m@fst.unair.ac.id (Yosephine Sri Wulan Manuhara)
Academic Editor: Marcello Iriti
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2022, 27(9), 274; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2709274
Submitted: 4 August 2022 | Revised: 13 September 2022 | Accepted: 21 September 2022 | Published: 29 September 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Candida albicans is responsible for a wide range of medical ailments, from harmless cutaneous to life-threatening bloodstream infections. Growing cases of antifungal-drug resistance strains of C. albicans become a rationale to explore and develop novel anti-candida agents. In this paper, we assessed the anti-candida activity of the methanolic extracts of various tropical medicinal plants from Myrtaceae, Poaceae, and Zingiberaceae, commonly used in Indonesia to treat fungal infections. Methods: Candida albicans strain ATCC 10231 was used as a subject to assess the anti-Candida activities of plant methanolic extracts through disc diffusion assay. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) were observed. Results: All plant extracts in this study showed antifungal activities against C. albicans. Among them, Cymbopogon citratus, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Curcuma aeruginosa, and Zingiber officinale var. rubrum showed the lowest MIC and MFC value of 3.8 mg/mL. Conclusions: The growth inhibition of C. albicans on disc diffusion assay was demonstrated by Z. officinale var. rubrum and C. longa, which were comparable to antifungal nystatin. Further investigation of the chemical constituents of the extracts and the cytotoxicity test is needed to further develop plant-derived anti-candida agents.

Keywords
health care
tropical medicinal plants
Candida albicans
methanolic extract
minimum inhibitory concentration
minimum fungicidal concentration
Funding
343/UN3.14/PT/2020./Universitas Airlangga
Figures
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