In Vitro and in Vivo Anti Dermatophytes Activity of Lawsonia Inermis L. (Henna) Leaves against Ringworm and Its Etiological Agents

Abstract

The study was carried out to identify the etiological agents causing ringworm, evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antifungal activity of Lawsonia inermis L. In vitro study was carried out using agar dilution method. In a total of 50 clinical samples, 4 different species were identified namely; Microsporum canis, Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton rubrum, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. However, the results showed that hexane extract exerted a strong antifungal activity against all the identified etiological agents, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 625µg/ml except Microsporum canis which resisted the minimum concentration but susceptible to the higher concentrations. The in vivo study was carried out using 15 naturally infected goats. First, second and third group of animals were treated with henna paste, aqueous and ethanolic extract respectively, fourth group were treated with clotrimazole as a positive control while negative control (fifth) group were left untreated with neither henna nor clotrimazole. The treatments were compared and the results showed that henna paste had the highest efficacy against all the types of ringworm tested compared to the remaining treatments. Disappearance of lesion and complete repair of the hair was observed at 30 days after treatment. Significantly similar result was observed in the group of animals treated with aqueous extract, ethanol extract, and clotrimazole in all the parameters. Significant different was only observed between groups treated and negative control.