Anticandidal activity and phytochemical analysis of certain medicinal plants from Eastern Ghats, India

Abstract

The ethno-medico-botanical studies in Eastern Ghats provided an evidence for the tribal claims on the usage of medicinal plants for various human infectious diseases. The present investigation focused on the anticandidal activity of certain medicinal plants used for infectious diseases. The plant samples were extracted with solvents initially with petroleum ether followed by ethyl acetate and ethyl alcohol and the extracts were tested for anticandidal activity. The results indicated that, the extracts of twenty three medicinal plants significantly inhibited the growth of the test pathogen. The details of anticandidal activity, Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) of active extracts and their phytochemical analysis with respect to alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, terpenes, saponins and essential oils were provided. The plants namely Andrographis nallamalayana Ellis, Boswellia ovalifoliolata Bal. et Henry, Crotalaria madurensis var. kurnoolica Ellis et Swaminathan,Hedychium coronarium Koeing, Pterocarpus santalinus L.f., Shorea tumbuggaia Roxb., Tylophora fasciculata Buch.-Ham. ex Wight were endemic and their extracts exhibited significant anticandidal activity.