In vitro activity of some medicinal plants from Cachar district, Assam (India) against Candida albicans

Introduction: The current research has focused on the potentiality of medicinal plants for treatment of Candida albicans infections. Five plants viz. Clerodendron colebrookianum Walp. (Leaf), Gnetum gnemon L. (Leaf), Sarcochlamys pulcherrima (Roxb.) Gaud. (Leaf), Garcinia lancifolia (Don) Roxb (Leaf) and Euryale ferox Salisb. (Seed), used as traditional medicines in Cachar district, Assam, India were selected to evaluate in vitro activity against C. albicans. Methods: The plant samples were extracted with methanol. Agar well diffusion assay was used to test the activity of the plant extracts and broth microdilution method was used to determine the MIC. Results: All extracts showed anticandidial activity with zones of inhibition ranging from 17 to 25 mm at 2 × 105 μg/ml extract. E. ferox and S. pulcherrima showed the highest activity with the MIC value of 1.25 × 104 μg/ml. The remaining extracts were comparatively less effective showing MIC value of 2.5 × 104 μg/ml. Conclusions: Anticandidial activity of the plants extracts, observed in this study highlighted further in vivo investigation and identification of the active compounds for therapeutic uses. The anticandidial activity of S. pulcherrima and G. lancifolia is probably the first report to the best of our knowledge.