Antifungal efficacy of ten selected South African plant species against Cryptococcus neoformans

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Quantity of extracts of 10 plant species (1, Zanthoxylum capense; 2, Morus mesozygia; 3, Calodendrum capense; 4, Catha transvaalensis; 5, Cussonia zuluensis; 6, Ochna natalitia; 7, Croton sylvaticus; 8, Maytenus undata; 9, Celtis africana; 10, Cassine aethiopica) extracted using different solvents. Hex, hexane; DCM, dichloromethane; ACE, acetone; MeOH, methanol.

Figure 2.  TLC chromatograms of 10 plant species (left to right: Zanthoxylum capense (Zc), Morus mesozygia (Mm), Calodendrum capense (Cc), Catha transvaalensis (Ct), Cussonia zuluensis (Cz), Ochna natalitia (On), Croton sylvaticus (Cs), Maytenus undata (Mu), Celtis africana (Ca), and Cassine aethiopica (Ce) extracted with hexane, DCM, acetone, and methanol (left to right), developed in BEA, CEF, and EMW (top to bottom), sprayed with vanillin sulfuric acid in methanol.

Figure 3.  TLC bioautogram of 10 plant species (from left to right: Zanthoxylum capense (Zc), Morus mesozygia (Mm), Calodendrum capense (Cc), Catha transvaalensis (Ct), Cussonia zuluensis (Cz), Ochna natalitia (On), Croton sylvaticus (Cs), Maytenus undata (Mu), Celtis africana (Ca), and Cassine aethiopica (Ce) extracted with DCM or hexane, developed in BEA and EMW and sprayed with Cryptococcus neoformans. Clear zones on the bioautogram indicate fungal growth inhibition.

Table 1.  Quantity extracted from 4 g of plant material, average MIC values, and total activity of 10 plant species against C. neoformans

Plant species	Quantity extracted (mg)				Incubation period 24 h								Incubation period 48 h
					MIC value (mg/mL)				Total activity (mL/g)				MIC value (mg/mL)				Total activity (mL/g)
	HEX	DCM	ACE	MeOH	HEX	DCM	ACE	MeOH	HEX	DCM	ACE	MeOH	HEX	DCM	ACE	MeOH	HEX	DCM	ACE	MeOH
Z. capense	9	15	46	83	0.04	0.02	0.08	0.32	56	188	144	65	0.64	0.18	0.08	0.945	4	21	144	22
M. mesozygia	13	11	111	122	0.08	0.04	0.12	0.24	41	69	232	127	0.64	0.12	0.16	0.64	5	123	174	48
C. capense	39	38	190	104	0.08	0.02	0.03	0.32	122	475	1583	81	0.64	0.20	0.04	0.64	15	48	1188	41
C. transvaalensis	69	36	584	264	0.02	0.04	0.12	0.16	865	225	1217	413	0.64	0.24	0.06	0.48	27	38	2433	138
C. zuluensis	24	31	238	103	0.16	0.02	0.16	0.32	38	388	372	81	0.64	0.20	0.12	0.64	9	39	496	40
O. natalitia	9	5	155	152	0.16	0.02	0.08	0.32	14	63	485	119	1.25	0.24	0.08	0.32	2	5	485	119
C. sylvaticus	13	20	137	89	0.02	0.02	0.12	0.12	163	250	286	186	0.24	0.24	0.64	0.32	14	21	54	70
M. undata	50	44	305	164	0.08	0.02	0.24	0.02	156	550	318	2050	0.16	0.12	0.12	0.32	78	92	636	128
C. africana	6	7	182	41	0.32	0.02	0.12	0.40	5	90	379	26	0.32	0.36	0.06	0.08	5	5	758	128
C. aethiopica	38	28	225	233	0.04	0.02	0.12	0.40	238	350	469	146	0.64	0.48	0.12	1.25	15	15	469	47

HEX, hexane; DCM, dichloromethane; ACE, acetone; MeOH, methanol.

Table 2.  Average MIC values and total activity of C. neoformans against the different plant extracts. Each value represents the average of three replicates

Plant species	24 h		48 h
	MIC value (mg/mL)	Total activity (mL/g)	MIC value (mg/mL)	Total activity (mL/g)
Z. capense	0.15	113	0.46	48
M. mesozygia	0.12	117	0.39	88
C. capense	0.11	565	0.38	323
C. transvaalensis	0.09	680	0.36	659
C. zuluensis	0.17	220	0.40	146
O. natalitia	0.15	170	0.47	153
C. sylvaticus	0.07	221	0.36	41
M. undata	0.09	769	0.18	234
C. africana	0.22	125	0.21	224
C. aethiopica	0.15	300	0.62	137