Antifungal Activities Of Camellia Sinensis Crude Extract On Selected Pathogenic And Mycotoxic Fungi

ABSTRACT

Human fungal infections pose serious medical issues. Up to now, more than a hundred

thousand fungal species are considered as natural contaminants. During the last decade,

the incidence of superficial and deep mycotic infections has continued to increase

explosively. There is a general consensus among researchers, clinicians and

pharmaceutical companies that new, potent, effective and safe antifungal drugs are

needed. Majority of work has been conducted on Camellia sinensis extracts against

bacterial agent’s activity but little work for antifungal activity. In this study, in vitro

antifungal activities of Camellia sinensis crude extracts compared with azole group of

compounds on selected pathogenic and mycotoxic fungi were determined. That was done

by evaluating the difference in antifungal activities of green and black tea crude extracts

having a concentration of 100mg mL-1. Quantitative bioassay was done using disc

diffusion method and Minimum Inhibition Concentration was done using broth dilution

methods. The fungal isolates used for bioactivity testing were yeasts; Candida famata, C.

lusitaniae, C. tropicalis ATCC 750, C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019, C. glabrata ATCC

24433, C. krusei ATCC 6258 and Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 66031; and moulds,

Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum gypseum, Fusarium monilliforme,

Aspergillus spp and Penicillium chrysogeneum. ATCC standard fungal strains and

clinical isolates were included. Green tea crude extract showed stronger inhibitory effect

against the fungal strains tested than black tea crude extract. There was a significant

difference in zone of inhibitions (T=4.09, P