Antifungal activity of the rhizome extracts of Pulsatilla vulgaris against Candida glabrata

Abstract

Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. (“Pasque flower”, Ranunculaceae) is rare and a threatened plant species in Europe. It produces biologically active secondary metabolites. P. vulgaris is also known herbal drug used for centuries in traditional Chinese and Korean medicine. The rhizomes of P. vulgaris have been traditionally used for treatment of headaches, neuralgia, insomnia, hyperactivity, bacterial skin infections, septicemia, cough and bronchitis. In the present study, the extracts of leaves and rhizomes of P. vulgaris were evaluated for their antifungal, antimicrobial, antimalarial and cytotoxic activities. The results showed the antifungal activity of crude extracts of the rhizome of P. vulgaris against the yeast Candida glabrata with an IC50 of 11 µg/ml. These results indicate that the selected medicinal plant could be further investigated for identifying compounds that may be responsible for the observed activity and that may represent new leads in fungal drug discovery. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3228890