Antifungal Activity

The aim of this work was to isolate a lectin from Myracrodruon urundeuva heartwood and to evaluate its antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi that attack plants, including woods. The lectin was isolated from heartwood through affinity chromatography on a chitin column monitored by hemagglutination assay. The lectin inhibited Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and was more effective than antifungal Cercobin in growth inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi. The detected antimicrobial activity reveals the possible role of the lectin in the resistance of M. urundeuva heartwood against deteriorative biological agents. The M. urundeuva lectin is the first bioactive peptide found in heartwood, probably stored as a chemical protection against biodegradation.

The scavenging activity against DPPH (1,1-diphenil-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical and the antifungal effect against chloroform, ethyl acetate and 50% methanolic extracts of Verbena officinalis leaves were investigated. The activity of different fractions of 50% methanolic extract and some isolated compounds were also investigated. The results suggest that 50% methanolic extract and caffeoyl derivatives could potentially be considered as excellent and readily available sources of natural antifungal and antioxidant compounds.

This study was carried out to investigate the antifungal and immunomodulatory activities of Bryophylum pinnatum. Both aqueous and ethanol solvents were used for extraction. Five fungal species including Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Cladosporium herbarium, Candida albicans and Penicillium italicum were obtained from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and they were preliminarily identified using standard microbiological methods. Wistar rat models for the study were purchased and acclimatized for a period of two weeks. The rats were divided into five groups and orally administered with the ethanol extract of the plant while one group served as control. Antimicrobial and hematological parameters including packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin, white blood cell counts, platelets and CD4 count were assayed using standard methods. The only fungus sensitive to aqueous extract was Aspergillus niger, with zone of inhibition ranging from 6.00±0.58-11.33±0.33 mm at concentration...

The effect of eight organic acids (propionic, acetic, formic, lactic, tartaric, citric, oxalic and malic acids) as antifungal agents on the growth of four fungi (Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium purpurogenum, Rhizopus nigricans and Fusarium oxysporum) were studied. The high acidity appeared for oxalic acid being 0.14 at the high concentration (10%), while the lowest acidity recorded for propionic acid and acetic acid being 2.71 and 2.56 at the low concentration (5%). It was observed that, there was no relationship between the efficacy of organic acid and its final pH. Acetic acid (10%) has the highest inhibitory effect on A. flavus being 45.21%, but tartaric acid (5%) and citric acid (5%) gave the same lowest inhibition effect (0.42%). The lowest value of mycelium dry weight (MDW) of P. purpurogenum was 5.92 g/l when acetic acid was used (10%), but the highest value was 9.38 g/l when tartaric acid (5%) was used. Formic acid (10%) had a strong effect on the inhibition growth of R. nigricans being 28.65%, similar to propionic acid (10%), acetic acid (10%), lactic acid (10%), tartaric acid (10%) and citric acid (10%) being 26.57%, 26.38%, 26.19%, 23.53% and 24.48%, respectively. But malic acid (5%) and oxalic acid (5%) were having a week effect on R. nigricans being 5.31% and 6.45%, respectively. Lactic acid (10%) has the highest inhibitory effect on F. oxysporum being 34.45% and the lowest value was in the case of tartaric acid (5%) being 1.68%. Four treatments were used to determine aflatoxin B 1 production. The highest inhibition (50%) was observed by R. nigricans in the presence of formic acid (10%). Acetic acid in 10% level inhibited the toxic secretion of A. flavus and P. purpurogenum to become 25% and 40%, respectively. Lactic acid (10%) gave 35% inhibition of toxin production in the presence of F. oxysporum.

Natural dyes find use in the coloring of textiles, drugs, cosmetics, etc. Owing to their nontoxic effects, they are also used for coloring various food products. In the present study antimicrobial properties of 8 food dyes against 10 bacteria and 5 fungal organisms were investigated. It was observed that red dyes showed best antibacterial activity while yellow dyes showed better antifungal activity. Dyes obtained from catechu (Acacia catechu) and myrobalan (Terminalia chebula) is not sufficiently effective against the tested microorganisms. In addition to antimicrobial analysis, antioxidant activity by 3 different methods was also investigated. In all the methods, red dye was found to have greater antioxidant activity. It suggest that the addition of these dyes in food not only enhances the value addition by making the food more presentable but also shall address the issue of food supplementation with substances that are good antibiotics and antioxidants, subsequently proving to be health benefactors.

Despite recent advances in antifungal development, fungi remain a devastating threat to human health and compromise viability of the food supply. Plant based antimicrobials represent a vast untapped source with tremendous potential. Herein we present the antifungal properties of more than 50 plant extracts against two important human and agricultural pathogens, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus stolonifer. Multiple extracts exhibit promising MIC values of less than 100 μg/mL and are reported for both fungal species.

Aspergillus infections are among the most feared opportunistic infections in humans because they are capable of causing several distinct pulmonary diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Aspergillus species in patients with pulmonary pneumonia and susceptibility testing to the most commonly used antifungal agents.
A total of 311 specimens were collected from patients presented with the pulmonary complaint. Out of which, 139 (44.6%) yielded Aspergillus growth. Aspergillus isolates were obtained from Bronchoalveolar lavage and sputum. Ten species of Aspergillus were identified, A. flavus, A. niger, and A. terreus were the most frequently isolated species. Antifungal susceptibility of 10 different Aspergillus spp. isolates were performed using E-test. Voriconazole and caspofungin were having full inhibitory activity (100%) against tested Aspergillus spp., while some resistance was observed against itraconazole and posaconazole (50% and 75% respectively). Aspergillus was found to be the predominant fungal pathogen isolated from patients with pulmonary diseases, notably from patients with COPD and pulmonary TB.