Drug discovery: a new bioactive compounds isolated from natural sources

A rise in mortality due to fungal infections in immunocompromised population has been observed lately. Nowadays, due to increased fungal infections, the limitations encountered in their treatment like resistance, side-effects and high toxicity, the rising over prescription and overuse of conventional antifungals all stimulate a search for alternative natural drugs. Therefore we are in dire need of natural newer strategies that involve reliable agents for the treatment of fungal diseases such as essential oils (EOs) are known for their anti-microbial properties and are multi-component in nature. Soil samples (66 samples) were collected from different agricultural fields and animals habitat of Saharanpur (U.P.). Isolation of keratinophilic fungi was carried out by hair baiting technique. Extraction of Mentha piperita and Cinnamomum vernum EO was carried out by hydrodistillation method and chemical composition of both extracted EOs was determined by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrophotometry (GC-MS). Antimycotic studies of EO was done by standard disc diffusion method. In the present study, the antifungal potential of M. piperita and C. vernum EOs was evaluated against three human pathogenic fungi isolated from the soil of agricultural field and animals habitat of Saharanpur (U.P.) i.e. Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans and T. equinum. The chemical composition of M. piperita and C. vernum EOs were analysed by GC-MS. Menthol (53.28%) was the major compound of the M. piperita EO followed by menthyl acetate (15.1%) and menthofuran (11.18%). Major constituents of C.vernum EO were linalool (8%), (E)-cinnamaldehyde (7.2%), β-caryophyllene (7.4%), eucalyptol (6.4%), and eugenol (5.6%). EOs of M. piperita and C. vernum have been found to have a remarkable and excellent antifungal activity against these pathogenic fungi. Present findings conclude that natural products like plant-derived EOs instead of chemotherapy and emergence of resistance to antifungal drugs can be regarded as an environmental safety mode of diseases control against pathogens.

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