Antifungal activity and local toxicity study of Alangium salviifolium subsp hexapetalum.

Alangium salviifolium subsp hexapetalum is a medicinal plant which has been traditionally used for tonic and treatment of hemorrhoid. This plant showed promising antimicrobial activity in our preliminary experiments, this study was, therefore, conducted to investigate its inhibitory effect against dermatomycotic organisms and its toxicity. The lyophilized powder extract (4.59%) of pulverized wood was tested for its inhibitory effect by agar disc diffusion test. The extract gave inhibitory zone diameters of 25.23 and 14.78 mm against 26 and 14 isolates of dermatophytes and Candida albicans, respectively. Ketoconazole, used as a reference antifungal agent, had inhibitory zone diameters of 33.15 and 27.93 mm against dermatophytes and C. albicans, respectively. There was no significant difference between the extract and ketoconazole in their inhibition against dermatophytes (p > 0.01), but their difference was significant against C. albicans (p < 0.01). Using Buehler' s method, different amounts of extract (3, 6, and 9 mg/inch2 gauze pad) were tested in five male New Zealand white rabbits. All tested amounts of extract did not induce dermatitis among those rabbits within 1 week. The results demonstrated the inhibitory effect of Alangium salviifolium subsp hexapetalum against fungi without any local toxicity; a tendency to further develop a herbal preparation for the treatment of some dermatomycotic infections.