A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ALSTONIA VENENATA R. BR

Alstonia venenata a member of the family Apocynaceae, finds a prominent place in Ayurveda system of medicine and also among different tribal groups in India for a variety of diseases such as fever, epilepsy, malaria and a variety of skin diseases. A.venenata was studied to investigate the bioactive properties. Various plant parts like leaves, stem-bark, root-bark, flowers and fruits were extracted with a variety of solvents ranging from non-polar to polar and screened for bioactivity. Butanol and methanol extracts of all the parts alone were selected for antifungal testing. The tested organisms included human pathogens and laboratory contaminants/opportunistic fungi .They were Pencillium marniffi, Cyrptococcus sp., Candida sp., Epidermophyton sp., Microsporum sp., Fusarium sp., Pencillium sp., Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus sp. Different concentrations of the extracts dissolved in DMSO were incorporated in Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and a final concentration of 50mg, 100mg and 125mg per ml of SDA was obtained for testing. The drug control used was Imidazole at a concentration of 100µg/ml of SDA. Butanol extracts of stem and root-bark inhibited all the tested strains of fungi at a concentration of 50mg and 100mg respectively. Methanol extract of stem-bark and root-bark either showed complete or partial inhibition at a concentration of 125mg/ml. Butanol and methanol extracts of fruits, flowers and leaves showed complete or partial inhibition of most of the fungi tested at 125mg/ ml concentration. Antifungal activity of the fruits and flowers of Alstonia venenata are reported for the first time.