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Phytochemical screening
and
in vitro anticandidal activity of extracts and
essential oil of Curculigo pilosa (Schum and Thonn)
Engl. Hypoxidaceae
Gbadamosi Idayat Titilayo* and Egunyomi Adeyemi
Department
of Botany and Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
gita4me2004@yahoo.com.
Tel: 08035505173 / 070561114030.
Accepted
11 November, 2009 |
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Curculigo pilosa
is commonly
used for herbal preparations as a purgative and also in the
management and treatment of hernia, infertility and
gonorrhea in Southwestern Nigeria. Owing to reported
resistance of Candida albicans to toxic expensive
anticandidal agents such as azoles and its implication for
promoting opportunistic fungal infections of
immunosuppressed patients, the anticandidal activity of
C. pilosa was studied. The phytochemical screening of
its powdered rhizomes was done using standard procedure. The
extracts and essential oil were prepared using Soxhlet and
Clavenger-type apparatus respectively. Ten C. albicans
isolates from vagina cotton swabs were obtained from
three hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria. The isolates were tested
against extracts and essential oil for any anticandidal
activity using agar-well diffusion method. The minimum
inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using broth
dilution method. The phytochemicals found in C. pilosa
were alkaloids, saponins, tannins, cardenolides and traces
of anthraquinones. The ethanol extracts (500 mg/ml) and
undiluted essential oil exhibited anticandidal activity
while the water extract (1000 mg/ml) was inactive against
isolates. The MIC exhibited by the ethanol extract against
the tested isolates range between 0.020 and 1.500 mg/ml. The
isolation and identification of the active compounds of
C. pilosa could lead to the discovery of anticandidal
phytomedicine.
Key
words:
Curculigo pilosa, Candida albicans,
phytochemical screening, extracts, essential oil,
anticandidal activity. |
