In Vitro And In Vivo Studies Of Cassia Surattensis Flower Against Aspergillus Niger
| dc.contributor.author | Vello, Sumathy | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-02-20T01:19:59Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-02-20T01:19:59Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Infectious disease is one of the commonest health problems in developing countries with the rise of antibiotic resistance. Invasive aspergillosis is causing high mortality and morbidity rate among immunosuppressed patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need for novel antifungal therapy to control the fatality rate in the population. Opting on medicinal plants has become the current trend amongst scientific investigators as plants are rich with biological activities. Cassia surattensis flower was studied to identify this organ as a potential antifungal agent. Screening of selected pathogenic microorganisms which were inclusive of Gram positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Micrococcus sp and Staphylococcus aureus, Gram negative bacteria, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Salmonella sp and fungi Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus sp against the flower extract revealed this flower to possess antimicrobial properties. The zone of inhibition for microorganisms from disc diffusion assay ranged from 13 ± 0.04 mm to 18 ± 0.00 mm. Microorganisms that were weak against the flower extract were further evaluated with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) assay to determine the flower extract activity against the microorganisms in a dose dependent manner. MIC values for both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria ranged from 3.125 mg/mL to 25.00 mg/mL. For fungi, the MIC value ranged from 3.125 mg/mL to 6.25 mg/mL. The presence of antifungal agent in the flower extract caused damage to the hyphae and conidiophores of A. niger. This was observed via ultrastructural examinations on A. niger which demonstrated folded, collapsed, squashed and broken hyphae. Shrunken conidiospores were the major structural alteration detected on the conidia. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the methanolic flower extract found that carbohydrates, tannins, saponins, steroids, phenols and flavonoids were present as active compounds. Toxicity study via brine shrimp assay was performed to ensure the safety of the flower extract. Results turned out to be negative for toxicity with LC50 3.32 mg/mL for flower extract and LC50 0.27 mg/mL for potassium dichromate used as positive control. In vivo oral acute toxicity study was performed to support the nontoxic data. Mice administered with single dose of 5000 mg/mL of the flower extract did not show any architectural alterations on the lung, heart, liver, spleen and kidney sections in the histopathology examinations and thus strongly suggested the flower extract as toxic free. Antifungal activity of C. surattensis flower against A. niger was further studied with systemic aspergillosis model. Mice succumbed with conidia was studied via organ fungal burden determination, galactomannan levels and histopathology analysis. Colony counts in the organs and Galactomannan Index (GMI) increased steadily in the negative control as the study prolonged. Mice treated with flower extract showed a reduction pattern in fungal burden and GMI after Day 7 onwards although the reduction size was smaller compared to the positive control mice which received Amphotericin B. This was supported with histological analysis whereby sections from the flower extract treated mice featured recovery of the injured tissue for all the examined organs compared to severe damage observed in the negative control by end of the study. By Day 28 conidia infection reduced in liver and was cleared from lung and kidney in positive control. As a conclusion, C. surattensis flower could be a promising candidate in the pharmaceutical industry for new antifungal drug discovery using plant as the main ingredient. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/9540 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject | Antifungal agents | en_US |
| dc.title | In Vitro And In Vivo Studies Of Cassia Surattensis Flower Against Aspergillus Niger | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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