Abstract
Medicinal plants are facing threats due to loss of habitat and overexploitation of knows species. Therefore the present work shows utilization of essential oil from discarded leaves of Psidium guajava Linn. against human dermatophytic fungi Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, Trichophyton violaceum, Trichophyton tonsurans, Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporum gypseum and Microsporum canis. The oil was found to be fungicidal at 3.0 μl/ml and it tolerated heavy inoculum of pathogens at fungicidal concentrations. The fungicidal activity of the oil was thermostable, up to 70°C and shelf life was found to be six months, which was maximum the time taken into consideration. The oil having cineole, caryophyllane, copaene, azulene and eucalyptol as main constituents, exhibited broad fungicidal activity. The oil did not show any adverse effect on mammalian skin upto 5% concentration. Phylogeny of the dermatophytes with respect to toxicity of the oil has also been discussed using molecular data. The cost effective formulation from waste leaves can be exploited after undergoing double blind successful multicentral topical testing.
Highlights
Humid and unhygienic environment in tropical and subtropical countries are the main reason of a common cosmetic problem—tinea pedis, caused dominantly by Trichophyton rubrum followed by T. mentagrophytes and Epidermophyton floccosum [1,2,3]
The constituents of essential oils from the leaves of Psidium guajava Linn on GC/MS analysis showed the presence of sixty compounds
The findings of the present study shows that waste leaves oil of Psidium guajava L. is a promising antifungal agent that could be used as a therapeutic remedy against tinea pedis causing human dermatophytic fungi on account of its various in-vitro and in-vivo antifungal properties, viz., strong fungicidal action, long shelf-life, its tolerability of heavy inoculum density, thermostability, broad range of antidermatophytic activity and absence of any adverse effects
Summary
Humid and unhygienic environment in tropical and subtropical countries are the main reason of a common cosmetic problem—tinea pedis (ring worm of feet), caused dominantly by Trichophyton rubrum followed by T. mentagrophytes and Epidermophyton floccosum [1,2,3]. Ringworm infections are most prevalent and are named after the body parts affected. It is caused by a closely related group of fungi known as dermatophytes which have the ability to utilize keratin as a nutrient source by an enzyme keratinase. The increased use of synthetic antifungal agents in recent years has resulted in the development of resistance against these drugs [4]. These antifungal drugs are largely non renewable petro products that are non biodegradable and have adverse effect and residual toxicity [5], apart from being fungistatic in nature. Work on volatile plant products is gaining momentum [8,9] and worldwide spending on finding new anti-infective agents is expected to increase [10], as a result sales of botanical medicines has been increased in recent years [6]
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