Abstract
An ethnopharmacological survey concerning medicinal properties of Baillonella toxisperma (Pierre) was carried out by interview with the indigenous population of Dimako village situated in the East region of Cameroon. The result showed that the plant is implicated in the treatment of many infections among which is fungal infections. To confirm the antifungal property of B. toxisperma (Pierre), the barks and leaves of the plant were collected and serial extractions in water, hydro-ethanol mixture (3:7), ethanol, methanol and ethyl acetate were performed in vitro. One part of the hydro-ethanol (3:7) extract was degreased by mixing in water-hexane mixture (1:1). The extracts were then tested in vitro against Candida albicans, Candida parasilopsis, Candida sp. responsible for superficial, deep or systemic mycosis and against Cryptococcus neoformans responsible for sub-acute meningitis in immunodeficient individuals. The susceptibility of yeasts to plant extracts was evaluated using the wells diffusion method and yeasts growth inhibition parameters were evaluated according to the proposed National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) M27-A2 standard guidelines (2002). The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentrations (MFC) determined were between 0.93 and 30.0 mg/ml. The extracts were fungicidal on clinical yeasts tested with MFC/MIC ratio of 1 or 2. The hexane phase HT2 from the hydro-ethanol crude extract of the barks gave the best antifungal activity on C. neoformans, with a MIC of 0.93 mg/ml and a MFC of 1.87 mg/ml. This activity was similar to the one obtained with fluconazole. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of polyphenols, phenols, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, saponins, phlobatannins, triterpenes, anthocyanins, cardiac glycosides, leucoanthocyanins and fats, which are bioactive substances. The results could explain scientific validation to the traditional medical uses of B. toxisperma (Pierre) to treat fungal infections. Key words: Cameroon, Baillonella toxisperma (Pierre), ethnopharmacology survey, fungal infections, bioactive compounds.
Highlights
Fungal infections are global public health problems in Africa and in Cameroon
Table reports the results obtained from phytochemical screening of the different extracts
The results obtained from preliminary susceptibility tests of yeast to extracts and from antifungal screening tests showed that the yeasts were sensitive to all plant extracts and fluconazole
Summary
Fungal infections are global public health problems in Africa and in Cameroon. Resistance to antifungal agents has significantly increased in the past decade (Tasleem et al, 2011). The problem of fairly higher toxicity and limited numbers of effective drugs available underline the necessity to discover new antifungal compounds. Medicinal plants have been used for centuries as remedy for the treatment of various diseases and are the major sources of drugs by virtue of their high secondary metabolites content (Nostro et al, 2000). Many investigators have evaluated the bioactivity of plant extracts and the isolated constituents against the serious infectious organisms (Parekh and Sumitra, 2006). History shows that plants have been an important source of medicines against microbial infections. The compounds isolated from plants such as 2-decanone, hydroxydihydrocornin-aglycones, various indole derivatives and isoflavanones are reported to have interesting antifungal activities (Tasleem et al., 2011)
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