In vitro Effectiveness of Acacia concinna Extract against Dermatomycotic Pathogens

Acacia concinna (Wild.) D.C. is an important medicinal plant in Thailand and throughout Asian countries. Its dried pods are traditionally utilized as herbal medicine to treat many health symptoms e.g. laxative, cough, antidandruff and skin diseases. This investigation was performed in order to demonstrate the antimicrobial potential of different A. concinna extracts against the fungal causative agents of ringworm and opportunistic infections of immunocompromised populations. Phytochemical study showed that the crude extract of A. concinna pod consisted of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponin and tannin but none of antraquinone and cyanotic glycosides. The extracts e.g. ethanolic Soxhlet extract and chloroform extract from Soxhlet extractor, and lyophilized extract and macerated ethanolic extract were tested using diffusion method against 35 isolates of dermatophytes and each 20 isolates of Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Penicillium marneffei. The inhibitory effects were observed by considering their average inhibitory zone diameter (IZD) compared to that of ketoconazole's. From the averaged IZDs of all fungal isolates, the antifungal effectiveness of lyophilized, chloroform, ethanolic (Soxhlet) and ethanolic (macerated) extract was at 18.38, 18.34, 16.67 and 14.06 mm, respectively.