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Volume :

10

Issue :

2

Abstract :

There is ample scientific evidence today on the existence of a heightened and growing resistance of fungal agents to antifungal molecules. The search for natural bioactive substances that present lower risks to health has become a must. Scientific studies are on the rise, thus increasingly proving the therapeutic efficacy of plants. In the present work, we sought to study the antifungal activity of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of Daphne Gnidium leaves, a wild species used in traditional Moroccan medicine. The plants’ antifungal activity was evaluated In Vitro through the method of incorporation solid medium, against six pathogenic isolates: Candida albicans (AL62), Candida albicans (AL73), Candida tropicalis (TR6), Candida glabrata (GL1), Trichophyton violaceum (VI11) and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (BR1), all of which are pathogenic fungi that occur in humans. The results obtained show that the two types of extracts, aqueous and methanolic, have a positive but different antifungal impact depending on the pathogenic strains tested, with the exception of the two isolates of C. albicans (AL62 and AL73) and the isolate of C. tropicalis (TR6) which proved to be resistant to the aqueous extract of D. gnidium. This plant extract remarkably inhibited the Candida glabrata strain with a percentage of inhibition of diametrical growth -P.I.D.G- of 79.82% at the maximum concentration used which was 64.7mg. The aqueous extract also inhibited mycelial growth of Trichophyton violaceum and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis. The inhibition was total for Trichophyton violaceum at a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC100%) of 2.588 mg/ml. For Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, the inhibition of diametrical growth was 77.84% at a 64.7mg/ml concentration. The methanolic extract was much more effective than the aqueous one. Indeed, we found that this extract had a significantly inhibitory effect on the isolates tested at lower concentrations than those of the aqueous extract: the P.I.D.G of Candida glabrata was 70% at a concentration of 8 mg/ml, while inhibition was total for Trichophyton violaceum and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis at a MIC100% of 0.8 mg/ml and 6 mg/ml, respectively. The effectiveness of D. gnidium extracts against these pathogenic fungi opens new prospects for a natural fight against fungal agents.