Phytochemical Constituents and Antifungal Studies of Methanol Leaf Extract and It’s Fractions of Isoberlinia Doka

Abstract

Isoberlinia doka is a plant species belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is used in traditional medicine for treatment of muscular skeletal system disorders, Jaundice scorpion bites, Convulsion, diabetes, ulcer, wounds and cough. The aim of the study was to conduct phytochemical and antifungal studies of methanol leaf extract and its fractions of Isoberlinia doka. The plant material was collected identified and air dried. Powdered plant material was subjected to maceration using methanol to obtained crude methanol leaf extract which was partitioned using n-hexane, chloroform ethyl acetate and n-butanol. The extract and fractions obtained were subjected to phytochemical screening using standard procedure, the antifungal studies of the methanol extract and its fractions against Candida albican, Candida crusie, Trychophytom rubrum and Trychophyton mentagrophyte were investigated using agar well diffusion method at different concentration (100 – 12.5 mg/mL). The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of various secondary metabolites which varies in the extract and fractions. The methanol extract and its fractions showed significant (p< 0.05) antifungal activity against all the fungal isolates with the ethylacetate fraction having the highest mean zone of inhibition ranging from 8-23 mm followed by the n-butanol fraction with the mean zone of inhibitions from 6-21 mm the methanol extract and the n-hexane fraction had the mean zone from 5-17 mm and 6-19 mm respectively while chloroform recorded lower mean zone of inhibition from 6-14. The standard drug fluconazole had the mean zone of inhibition from 6-20 mm. The most sensitive organism was Candida albican, while the least sensitive organisms were T. mentagraphyte and T. rubrum for the ethyl acetate fraction. The study has validated the ethnomedicinal claim for the use of this plant in treatment of the fungal infections.