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Indian Journal of Microbiology logoLink to Indian Journal of Microbiology
. 2010 Mar 5;50(Suppl 1):62–69. doi: 10.1007/s12088-010-0004-2

Solanum melongena: A potential source of antifungal agent

Jayshree Das 1,, Jyoti Prasad Lahan 2, R B Srivastava 1
PMCID: PMC3396405  PMID: 22815574

Abstract

The antifungal activity of Solanum melongena leaf, extracted with petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water was evaluated against three human pathogenic dermatophytes namely Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans and two opportunistic fungi Candida albicans and Trichosporon beigelii. Maximum yield of plant components was 4.32 g, extracted in water and minimum 1.07 g in petroleum ether from 150 g of dry plant material. Except water extract, all the extracts possessed significant antifungal property. All the test pathogens showed highest sensitivity towards chloroform extract, exhibiting maximum inhibition zone diameter of 50.0 mm in T. mentagrophytes and minimum 30.0 mm in C. albicans at 2 × 105 μg/ml concentration. Chloroform extract at lower concentration 2.5 × 104 μg/ml was inhibitory for all the test pathogens, exhibiting inhibition zone diameter 21.0 mm against T. tonsurans and 15.0 mm against C. albicans and T. beigelii. The activity of the different solvent extracts against the test pathogens in terms of inhibition zone diameter in decreasing order was as follows

Chloroform extract > Petroleum ether extract > Methanol extract for T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans.

Chloroform extract > Methanol extract > Petroleum ether extract for C. albicans and T. beigelii.

Keywords: Solanum melongena, Solvent extract, Antifungal activity

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