Sensitivity of ornithophillic fungi to some drugs.

The occurrence of ornithophillic fungi and related dermatophytes was evaluated from the poultry farm soil samples. Two test species of Microsporum were tested by 'Spore germination' and 'Disc diffusion method' against the two well known antifungal antibiotics i.e. griseofulvin and mycostatin (polyene antibiotic). The data showed cent percent inhibition of fungal spore germination and increased zone of inhibition at higher doses. The antimicrobial drugs including acetyl salicylic acid, benzoic acid and boric acid were also assessed at different doses against the test organisms. Acetyl salicylic acid and boric acid were found to be toxic at higher doses, while these pathogens seems to be somewhat resistant for benzoic acid. It is suggested that the effective doses of these drugs should also be tried for allergic effects on birds and other animals before commercial use.

In vitro evaluation of sulfadrugs against fungi causing otomycosis.

The efficacy of four sulfadrugs i.e., sulfadiazine, sulfamethoxazole, sulfaguanidine and sulfamoxole were taken in different doses (500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 ppm) to test their effectiveness against five pathogenic organisms for the control of mycelial growth and sporulation. Amongst the drugs tested sulfamethoxazole seems to be most effective against most of the test fungi showing 96.78, 90.53, 86.62, 54.16 and 43.91 percent inhibition in mycelial growth of P. nigricans, A. flavus, A. corymbifera, A. niger and C. albicans, respectively at its 2500 ppm dose in the basal medium. Gradual reduction in sporulation in all the test organisms almost in all the sulfadrugs have caused inhibition in sporulation, in comparison to their respective controls. Maximum inhibitory effect of sulfadiazine was recorded in A. niger showing 77.26 percent inhibition in the mycelial growth at a dose of 2500 ppm. Sulfaguanidine at its higher dose i.e., 2500 ppm proved to be most toxic against A. corymbifera causing 56.39 percent inhibition in the mycelial growth, while the same dose could not be found much effective against other test fungi. Sulfamoxole was found to be quite effective against most of the test fungi causing 47.16 to 85.86 percent inhibition in the mycelial growth. A gradual inhibition in the vegetative growth and sporulation or budding in all the test fungi was noted by increasing the concentrations of the test sulfadrugs.

Activity of some plant extracts against dermatophytes.

The occurrence of fungal diseases is a serious problem of the present medicine because of the development of drug resistance against the antifungal activities in the pathogen. As compared to antibacterial antibiotics, there are only a few antibiotics which are used against fungal infection besides there is a serious problem of the development of resistance in fungal pathogen against the known antifungals, hence there seems a great demand of some alternative chemotherapeutic agent. The possibility of getting certain active principle in plants are immense, earlier workers have shown the presence of antifungal activity in various plants of varied nature suggest that the search for antifungal of plant origin should continue to explore their potential.

In vitro evaluation of inhibitory nature of extracts of 18-plant species of Chhindwara against 3-keratinophilic fungi.

Effect of extract of 18 plant species, viz., Acorus calamus, Adhatoda vasica, Amomum subulatum, Andrographis paniculata, Boerhaavia diffusa, Cassia occidentalis, Centella asiatica, Cymbopogon citratus, Hemidesmus indicus, Hyptis suaveolens, Malvestrum sp., Passiflora edulis, Pergularia daemia, Peristrophe bicalyculata, Shuteria hirsuta, Solanum nigrum, Tecoma stans, and Verbascum chinense on the growth of Microsporum gypseum, Chrysosporium tropicum and Trichophyton terrestre was evaluated and discussed. The sensitivity of the keratinophilic fungi was evaluated by dry-weight method. The maximum inhibition of mycelial growth was shown by M. gypseum (86.62%) followed by T. terrestre (81.86%) and C. tropicum (74.06%) when treated with S. hirsuta whereas the minimum inhibition was exhibited by M. gypseum (0.29%), C. tropicum (0.16%) and T. terrestre (1.76%) when tested with the extract of P. edulis, A. vasica and B. diffusa respectively.

In vitro evaluation of three topical antimycotics against ring-worm fungi singly and in combination.

Three antimycotic drugs, viz., Miconazole nitrate, Econazole nitrate and ciclopirox olamine were tested singly and in combination of miconazole nitrate and Econazole nitrate, Miconazole nitrate and Ciclopirox olamine, and Econazole nitrate and Ciclopirox olamine to evaluate in vitro efficacy against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Macrosporum nanum. The best efficacy was shown by Ciclopirox olamine (MIC 0.78 microgram/ml) and a combination of Miconazole nitrate and Econazole nitrate (MIC 0.78 microgram/ml).

Sporostatic effect of some oils against fungi causing otomycosis.

In vitro animycotic effect of mustard, groundnut, soybean, coconut and amla oils on five fungi i.e., Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Absidia corymbifera, Penicillium nigricans and Candida albicans isolated from otitic fungal infection of external ear (Tympanic membrane) of human being was studied. Spore germination was evaluated in the oil samples as such after heating for two minutes & after boiling the oil. Data show that mustard and coconut oil seem to be effective as in these the spore germination was poor. Other oils were not found to be much effective. Sporostatic effect was noted only when the oils were used after heating or boiling this may be correlated by the synthesis of enzymes during spore germination.