Antifungal activity of steroidal glycosides from Yucca gloriosa L.

The antifungal activity of a crude steroidal glycoside extract from Yucca gloriosa flowers, named alexin, was investigated in vitro against a panel of human pathogenic fungi, yeasts as well as dermatophytes and filamentous species. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by an agar dilution method. Alexin had a broad spectrum of antifungal activity, found to reside entirely in the spirostanoid fraction. The major tigogenyl glycosides, yuccaloeside B and yuccaloeside C, exhibited MICs between 0.39 and 6.25 microg[sol ]mL for all the tested yeast strains except for two (C. lusitaniae and C. kefyr). They were also active against several clinical Candida isolates known to be resistant to the usual antifungal agents. The MICs for the dermatophytes were between 0.78 and 12.5 microg[sol ]mL. The most sensitive filamentous species was A. fumigatus (MIC = 1.56 microg[sol ]mL). For most of the strains, the MICs of both glycosides were similar to those of the reference antifungal agent.