Study on The Growth Indices of Microsporum canis And Trichophyton mentagrophytes In Challenge with Cinnamon and Turmeric Methanolic Extracts

Plant extracts can provide antifungal effects on fungi, including dermatophytes. Cinnamon and turmeric, with their cinnamic aldehyde and curcumin, respectively, can act as important antifungal plants. The two fungal strains of Microsporum canis and Trichophyton mentagrophytes are among the most important causative agents of dermatophytosis. Dermatophytosis is a zoonotic and dangerous disease against human and animal health. First, we prepared two fungal strains of Microsporum canis (PTCC No:5069) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (PTCC No:5054) as live culture from the Persian Type Culture Collection centre (PTCC). Then, for the preparation of methanolic extracts of cinnamon and turmeric, we performed Maceration method, and after that, we prepared a standard fungal suspension. For positive control, in addition to the chemical drug itraconazole, we also used positive and negative controls in the microdilution method. To expose these two extracts to these two fungal strains by microdilution method using serial agar dilution in 1640 RPMI medium and then finding the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC). The initial concentrations of the extracts used for this experiment were 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000 PPM. In these experiments, we used Paired Samples Test or T-test of paired samples and SPSS software.According to the results, the effects of cinnamon and turmeric extracts on Trichophyton mentagrophytes at Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) are respectively 1250 and 750 PPM, and on Microsporum canis are respectively 125 and 250 PPM. Similarly, the effect of cinnamon and turmeric extracts on the Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) on Trichophyton mentagrophytes is 2500 and 1500 PPM, respectively, and on the Microsporum canis at both concentrations are 500 PPM. The effective concentrations of itraconazole on Microsporum canis and Trichophyton mentagrophytes were respectively 32 and 64 PPM for MIC and 64 and 128 PPM for MFC. Following the conclusion, we found that cinnamon and turmeric were effective on these two fungal strains, so that these two extracts were more effective on the fungal strain of Microsporum canis than Trichophyton mentagrophytes, but their fungicidal and inhibitory effects have been far less than those of an antifungal chemical such as Itraconazole.