Screening Dashapushpam polyherbal extract for in vitro antifungal activity against opportunistic fungal pathogens
Priya Prasannakumar, Sruthi M., Ameena I., Robert Antony A.
MycoAsia 2026/02.
https://doi.org/10.59265/mycoasia.2026-02
Submitted: 27 April 2026 | Accepted: 29 September 2026 | Published: 15 November 2026
Handling Editor: Dr. Chandni Sidhu | Reviewers: Dr. Rajesh Jeewon, Dr. Vineet Meshram
Abstract
Fungal infections are an increasing health burden, and development of new antifungals has lagged behind antibacterial agent development, leaving only a handful of effective antifungal candidates in the medical arsenal. Therefore, this study aimed to screen in vitro antifungal activity of methanolic and aqueous extracts of a polyherbal formulation based on Dashapushpam tradition of Kerala ethnomedicine. Phytochemicals were extracted by maceration in methanol and distilled water and evaluated against Aspergillus brasiliensis ATCC 16404 and Candida albicans ATCC 2091 using agar well diffusion, poisoned plate technique, and broth microdilution method for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) determination. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed a broader range of bioactive constituents (alkaloids, tannins, phenolics, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, and saponins) in the methanol extract compared with the aqueous extract, and FTIR analysis confirmed carboxylic acid, ester, and nitrogen-containing functional groups. In the agar well diffusion assay, the methanol extract produced a larger zone of inhibition against C. albicans (16.2 ± 0.22 mm) than the aqueous extract (12 ± 1.84 mm), whereas fluconazole as the control produced a measurable inhibition of both strains under the conditions used; the aqueous extract was more effective against A. brasiliensis (16.63±1.82 mm) than the methanol extract (14.07±0.13 mm). MIC/MFC values were 125/250 µg/mL (methanol) and 125/500 µg/mL (aqueous) for C. albicans, and 62.5/125 µg/mL (methanol) and 125/500 µg/mL (aqueous) for A. brasiliensis, with MFC/MIC ratios ≤ 4 suggesting fungicidal potential, although time-kill kinetics indicated a predominantly fungistatic effect. These findings indicate that the extract possesses antifungal activity, with MIC values indicating useful potency and the time-kill assay suggesting that repeated dosing may be required for a durable effect. The polyherbal extract may therefore serve as a source of lead compounds. These findings validate the ethnomedicinal use of the Dashapushpam polyherbal formulation and support its potential as a natural antifungal candidate against opportunistic fungal pathogens, warranting further bioactive compound isolation and in vivo evaluation.
Plain Language Summary
Fungal infections are a growing health problem, yet only a few effective antifungal medicines are available. In this study, researchers prepared methanol and water extracts of a herbal mixture based on Dashapushpam, a traditional group of medicinal plants used in Kerala, and tested them in the laboratory against two disease-causing fungi: the yeast Candida albicans and the mould Aspergillus brasiliensis. Both extracts slowed or stopped the growth of these fungi at low concentrations, and against Candida the methanol extract worked better than the standard drug fluconazole under the test conditions. The extracts mainly stopped the fungi from growing rather than killing them quickly, which suggests that repeated doses may be needed. The results support the traditional use of Dashapushpam and point to it as a promising source of new antifungal compounds, which now need to be isolated and tested further.
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How to Cite
Priya Prasannakumar, Sruthi M., Ameena I., Robert Antony A. (2026). Screening Dashapushpam polyherbal extract for in vitro antifungal activity against opportunistic fungal pathogens. MycoAsia, 2026/02. https://doi.org/10.59265/mycoasia.2026-02
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© The Author(s) 2026. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.