Investigation of antifungal effect of Ephedra major against Microsporum gypseum Print

Dermatophytosis is a fungal infection in which outer surface of body of human and animals have been attacked by dermatophytes. There are some limitations in treatment of this disease because of drug resistances and side effects of available anti-dermatophytic drugs. Thus medicinal herbs have been considered as new sources of antifungal drugs. Ephedra major is one of the oldest medicinal plants. Its antifungal activity against some fungi has been reported. We aimed to investigate the antifungal effect of Ephedra major against Microsporum gypseum. Total aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts were prepared from the dried aerial parts of the plant. The antifungal activity of these extracts was investigated by disk diffusion and agar dilution methods against M. gypseum. Terbinafine was used as a positive control. The cultures were evaluated at the end of the second week and the results of disk diffusion and agar dilution methods were recorded as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and inhibition zone diameter, respectively. In agar dilution method, the aqueous extract showed antifungal effects with MIC 10 mg/ml but in disk diffusion method, inhibition of growth was not observed in all concentrations prepared from both extracts. In addition, the MIC of terbinafine was determined as 0.5 µg/ml against M. gypseum. The results indicate that total aqueous extract of E. major aerial parts is active against M. gypseum, but the potency of this extract is not comparable with terbinafine. It could be obtained significant anti-dermatophytic effects Keywords: