Antifungal effects of the aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Echinophora platyloba and Rosmarinus officinalis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In traditional medicine, herbal products still remain the principal source of pharmaceutical agents. The present study aimed to investigate the antifungal effects of Echinophora platyloba and Rosmarinus officinalis extracts on C. albicans species. MATERIALS AND METHODS :The aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of E. platyloba and R. officinalis, collected from the mountainous regions of Iran, were screened in terms of antimicrobial activity against C. albicans strains, using the agar well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the microtitration technique. RESULTS Overall, the results showed that the leaf extracts of E. platyloba and R. officinalis had strong antimicrobial activities. Also, based on the findings, R. officinalis leaf extracts exhibited higher antimicrobial activity. The ethanolic leaf extracts of E. platyloba and R. officinalis showed good antimicrobial activity against C. albicans strains. However, the aqueous extracts did not show any major activities against the tested C. albicans strains. On the other hand, the ethanolic extracts exhibited major antimicrobial properties against C. albicans strains. The highest minimum inhibitory concentration was reported in E. platyloba leaf extracts. CONCLUSION The present results indicated some advantages of E. platyloba and R. officinalis leaf extracts, which could be applied for the treatment of microbial infections.