ANTIFUNGAL EFFECT OF GARCINIA KOLA

ABSTRACT

The study determines the antifungal effects of aqueous, ethanolic and methanolic extracts of Garcinia kola on some selected fungal isolates and their phytochemical constituents. The antifungal sensitivity and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) were determined by agar well diffusion and agar dilution methods, respectively using Sabouraud dextrose agar. The minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) was determined using samples with no visible growth in the MIC assay and sub-cultured onto a freshly prepared nutrient agar plates and later incubated at 25oC for 5 days. The phytochemical constituents of Garcinia kola were determined using standard methods. The antifungal susceptibility testing revealed that extracts of Garcinia kola have antifungal activity with zones of inhibitions which ranged from 3 - 43 mm. The aqueous extract of Garcinia kola had the highest zone of inhibition of 43 mm against Penicillium camemberti.  The refrence antibiotics, (i.e. ketoconazole) zones of inhibitions ranged from 10 - 46 mm. The antibiotic had the highest zone of inhibition of 46 mm each against Trichophyton mentagrophyte and Alternaria sp. The MIC of the fungal isolates ranged from 8 - 32 mg/ml with the aqueous extract having the highest MIC of 32 mg/ml against Penicillium camemberti while it exhibited lowest MIC of 8 mg/ml against Penicillium expansum. The extracts of Garcinia kola have no fungicidal effects on the fungal isolates. The qualitative phytochemical screening of the plant shows that it contained tannins, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, steroids and cardiac glycosides as its bio-active constituents. It can be concluded from this study that Garcinia kola extracts, if further purified could be used to ameliorate the increased resistance of fungal to conventional antibiotics.