Abstract:
In vitro antifungal activities of polygodial were
investigated against several fungal pathogens. Polygodial showed strong antifungal
activity, comparable to amphotericin B, against yeast-like fungi
Candida albicans, C. utilis,
C. krusei, Cryptococcus neoformans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and also filamentous fungi including Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. ruburum , and Penicillium marneffei. Other strains such
as Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus , P. chrysogenum,
C. lipolytica, and C. tropicalis
showed moderate to low susceptibility to polygodial. The antifungal activity
of polygodial was generally not reduced by several susceptibility-testing
conditions such as medium, incubation temperature, inoculum size, and medium
pH. However, polygodial's antifungal activity was strongly increased at acidic
conditions. Unlike amphotericin B, polygodial did not show any hemolytic activity
and also its antifungal activity was not diminished in the presence of ergosterol.
Based on killing kinetics against growing and nongrowing
C. albicans, polygodial showed strong and rapid fungicidal activity.
Key words:
Polygonaceae -
Polygonum hydropiper
- Winteraceae -
Pseudowintera colorata
- polygodial - antifungal -
Candida albicans
