Potential of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Sprengel Essential Oil Extracts as an Antifungal Agent

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Several diseases are mainly caused by pathogenic fungal organisms that largely affect human health. Issues with regards to the dangerous side effects of synthetic medicines lead to remarkable breakthroughs and trends with the use of herbal plants in different countries around the world. One of the most documented species belonging to family Lamiaceae is Plectranthus amboinicus (Loureiro), Sprengel. Studies provide information that P. amboinicus contains active fungal components (thymol and carvacrol). With this background, an investigation was undertaken to determine the potential of Plectranthus amboinicus essential oil as an antifungal agent against the three fungal organisms (Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and Aspergillus niger).

METHODS

Fresh P. amboinicusDRAFTleavesampleswereobtainedfromManuel I. Santos Memorial National High School garden. To extract the essential oil the plant samples were subjected to water distillation method. The essential oil was administered to antimicrobial assay to determine the inhibitory effect on three test fungal organisms.

RESULTS

Based on the data, P. amboinicus essential oil extract have a significant inhibitory effect to C. albicans, T. mentagrophytes and. niger. It also shows that the plant sample yields a close result compared to commercial antifungal cream based from the antimicrobial index.

DISCUSSIONS

Plectranthus amboinicus (Loureiro) Sprengel essential oil extract can be considered as a potential antifungal agent. This finding also supports the researchers' theory that essential oil extract has very high antimicrobial activity. The result of the study implies that P. amboinicus essential oil extract has a therapeutic value which can be used for further medicinal researches.