In vitro evaluation of antifungal activity of aerial parts of medicinal plants Balanites aegyptiaca Del. and Spilanthes acmella Murr.

Aqueous and alcoholic extracts of endangered medicinal plants Balanites aegyptiaca Del. and Spilanthes acmella Murr. were evaluated for antifungal potential against various pathogenic and opportunistic fungi by in vitro agar well diffusion method. All the alcoholic extracts showed wide range of activity against the tested fungi as compared to aqueous extracts which showed limited antifungal activity. The alcoholic extract of fruit of B. aegyptiaca showed good antifungal activity against most of the tested Candida species and few opportunistic fungi, whereas, alcoholic extract of flower head of S. acmella showed good activity not only against Candida species but also against most of the tested Aspergillus species. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the alcoholic extracts were determined by broth microdilution method. The MIC of alcoholic extract of B. aegyptiaca and S. acmella against tested fungi ranged from 3.05 to 24.0µg/ml and 1.53 to 49.0 µg/ml respectively. The present study leads to conclusion that extracts of Balanites aegyptiaca and Spilanthes acmella contain good antifungal activity and thus could be used as alternative medicine in the treatment of various opportunistic and life threatening fungal infections especially in immunocompromised patients which otherwise pose problem of resistance to the currently used antifungal agents.