Abstract

Curculigo pilosa is commonly used for herbal preparations as a purgative and also in the management and treatment of hernia, infertility and gonorrhea in Southwestern Nigeria. Owing to reported resistance of Candida albicans to toxic expensive anticandidal agents such as azoles and its implication for promoting opportunistic fungal infections of immunosuppressed patients, the anticandidal activity of C. pilosa was studied. The phytochemical screening of its powdered rhizomes was done using standard procedure. The extracts and essential oil were prepared using Soxhlet and Clavenger-type apparatus respectively. Ten C. albicansisolates from vagina cotton swabs were obtained from three hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria. The isolates were tested against extracts and essential oil for any anticandidal activity using agar-well diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using broth dilution method. The phytochemicals found in C. pilosa were alkaloids, saponins, tannins, cardenolides and traces of anthraquinones. The ethanol extracts (500 mg/ml) and undiluted essential oil exhibited anticandidal activity while the water extract (1000 mg/ml) was inactive against isolates. The MIC exhibited by the ethanol extract against the tested isolates range between 0.020 and 1.500 mg/ml. The isolation and identification of the active compounds of C. pilosa could lead to the discovery of anticandidal phytomedicine.

Key words: Curculigo pilosa, Candida albicans, phytochemical screening, extracts, essential oil, anticandidal activity.