Abstract
Dermatophytosis has been the most common cause of superficial fungal infections which invade the keratinized tissues of body such as nail, hair, and skin, respectively. Although these infections are treatable and many commercial drugs are available that can be applied topically (clotrimazole, fluconazole, itraconazole, miconazole, voriconazole) on the infected areas but they have very low efficacy and has high probability of relapse. To increase the efficacy of treatment, the patient receives supplementary oral medicines for prolong duration that leads to hepatotoxicity. Previously, it has been reported that some wild medicinal plants possess antifungal capacity due to the presence of bioactive molecules. In present study, these phytochemicals (viz. tannins, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids) derived from three test plants [Acacia nilotica (babul), Catharanthus roseus (sadabahar) and Ricinus communis (Arandi)] are used as sources of direct medicinal agents to develop an antidermatophytic drug formulation against the clinical fungal isolates associated with affected population. The mechanism of their antifungal potential of partially purified phytochemicals were analyzed using agar well diffusion method, food inhibition assessment and DNA cleavage analysis. The data revealed that the alkaloids are the most potent component possessing antifungal property that is recommended to be used to formulate topical ointment for the dermatophytic infection after competent regulatory approvals. This can be used as promising source of alternative treatment approach and as a competent substitute for chemically synthesized hepatotoxic drugs that are available in market.
Graphical Abstract
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available in following: Cureus, https://doi.org/10.7759%2Fcureus.18940. LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548396/.
References
Aamir S (2015) A rapid and efficient method of fungal genomic DNA extraction, suitable for PCR based molecular methods. Plant Pathol Quar 5:74–81. https://doi.org/10.5943/ppq/5/2/6
Alexopoulos CJ, Mims CW, Blackwell M (2007) Introductory mycology, 4th edn. Wiley, New York
Altemimi A, Lakhssassi N, Baharlouei A, Watson DG, Lightfoot DA (2017) Phytochemicals: extraction, isolation, and identification of bioactive compounds from plant extracts. Plants (Basel, Switzerland) 6(4):42. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants6040042
Behzadi P, Behzadi E, Ranjbar R (2014) Dermatophyte fungi: infections, diagnosis and treatment. SMU Med J 1(2):50–62 (ISSN: 2349-1604)
CLSI (2010) Method for antifungal disk diffusion susceptibility testing of nondermatophyte filamentous fungi; approved guideline. CLSI document M51-A. Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, Wayne, PA
Dashamiri S, Ghaedi M, Naghiha R, Salehi A, Jannesar R (2015) Antibacterial, antifungal and E. coli DNA cleavage of Euphorbia prostrata and Pelargonium graveolens extract and their combination with novel nanoparticles. Brazilian J Pharm Sci 54(4):e17724
Gupta S, Gupta BL (2013) Evaluation of the incidences of dermatophillic infection in Rajastahan: case studies from Rajasthan, India. Int J Medi Med Sci 5(5):229–232
Gupta S, Gurdaswani V (2018) Exploring active mechanism of natural biocides against microbes associated with raw and processed food, active mechanism of natural biocides. J Indian Botanical Soc 97(1&2):89–98 (e-ISSN:2455-7218)
Gupta S, Agrawal P, Rajawat R, Gupta SK (2014) Antifungal and phytochemical screening of wild medicinal plant against fungal clinical isolates from dermatitis. Am J PharmTech Res 4:754–66
Hassan FE, Abdel R, Wafa YA (2012) Antifungal activity of the extracts of Garad (Acacia nilotica L.). Gezira J Eng Appl Sci 7:1–18
Helal GA, Sarhan MM, Abu Shahla ANK, Abou El-Khair EK (2007) Effects of Cymbopogon citratus L. essential oil on the growth, morphogenesis and aflatoxin production of Aspergillus flavus ML2-strain. J Basic Microbiol 2007(47):5–15
Kabesh K, Senthilkumar P, Ragunathan R, Kumar RR (2015) Phytochemical analysis of Catharanthus roseus Plant extract and its antimicrobial activity. Int J Pure Appl Biosci 3(2):162–172
Khalid S, Shahzad A, Basharat N, Abubakar M, Anwar P (2018) Phytochemical screening and analysis of selected medicinal plants in Gujrat. J Phytochem Biochem 2(1):1000108
Khan JA, Yadav KP (2011) Assessment of antifungal properties of Ricinus communis. J Pharm Biomed Sci 11(11):1–3 (ISSN NO-2230-7885)
Kumar R, Ragunathan R, Kabesh K, Senthilkumar P (2015) Phytochemical analysis of Catharanthus roseus plant extract and its antimicrobial activity. Int J Pure Appl Biosci 3:162–172
Kumar S, Singh B, Singh R (2022) Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don: a review of its ethnobotany, phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology and toxicities. J Ethnopharmacol 284:114647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2021.114647 (ISSN 0378-8741)
Kumari K, Gupta S (2013) Antifungal properties of leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus L. (g) Don. American J Phytomedicine Clin Therapeutics, AJPCT 1(9):698–705
Mousavi Khattat SM, Keyhanfar M, Razmjou A (2018) A comparative study of stability, antioxidant, DNA cleavage and antibacterial activities of green and chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles. Artif cells, Nanomed, Biotechnol 46:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/21691401.2018.1527346
Naz R, Bano A (2012) Antimicrobial potential of Ricinus communis leaf extracts in different solvents against pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed 2(12):944–947. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2221-1691(13)60004-0
Patil TD, Pawar S, Kamble PN, Thakare SV (2012) Bioremediation of complex hydrocarbons using microbial consortium isolated from diesel oil polluted soil. Pelagia Research Liberary 3(4):953–958
Piggott CDS, Friedlander S (2012) Dermatophytes and other superficial fungi. Principles and practice of pediatric infectious diseases: 4th Edn. 1246–1249
Preeti KM, Verma AB (2014) A review on ethnopharmacological potential of Ricinus communis Linn. PharmaTutor 2(3):76–85
Rajagopalan M, Inamadar A, Mittal A et al (2018) Expert consensus on the management of dermatophytosis in India (ECTODERM India). BMC Dermatol 18:6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12895-018-0073-1
Rather, LJ, Shahid-ul-Islam, Mohammad, F (2015). Acacia nilotica (L.): a review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology. Sustainable Chem Pharmacy, 2, 12–30
Sahayaraj P, Gowri J, Dharmalingam V, Shobana R, Angelin Prema A (2015) Phytochemical screening by FTIR spectroscopic analysis of leaf and stem extracts of wedelia biflora. Int J Nano Corros Sci Eng 2(5):322–334
Sepahvand A, Eliasy H, Mohammadi M, Safarzadeh A, Azarbaijani K, Shahsavari S, Alizadeh M, Beyranvand F (2018) A review of the most effective medicinal plants for dermatophytosis in traditional medicine. Biomed Res Therapy 5(6):2378–2388. https://doi.org/10.15419/bmrat.v5i6.450
Silva L, de Oliveira D, da Silva B, de Souza R, da Silva P, Ferreira-Paim K, Andrade-Silva L, Silva-Vergara M, Andrade A (2014) Identification and antifungal susceptibility of fungi isolated from dermatomycoses. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 28:633–640. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.12151
Weitzman I, Summerbell RC (1995) The dermatophytes. Clin Microbiol Rev 8(2):240–259. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.8.2.240
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Professor Ina Aditya Shastri, Vice-Chancellor, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan for providing research facilities. We also provide thanks to DST-CURIE for providing financial assistance for conducting our research work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Author SG provided guidance while conducting the study, designed the study, performed and standardized the protocol. Author TB wrote the first draft of the manuscript, managed the analyses of the study through managing the literature searches. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Bhayana, T., Gupta, S. Elucidating the antifungal activity and mechanism of action of bioactive phytochemicals against fungal dermatitis isolates. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 1129–1141 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-022-02475-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-022-02475-4