Examining the use of African mistletoe (Tapinanthus globiferus (A. digitata) from Dutsin-Ma to control human fungal infections

Abdul N.A.¹ , Lawal B.² , Raubilu I.A.³

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.11 , Issue.1 , pp.41-45, Feb-2024

Online published on Feb 28, 2024

Copyright © Abdul N.A., Lawal B., Raubilu I.A. . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Numerous skin conditions are mostly brought on by fungi, particularly in underdeveloped nations. Chemotherapies may be derived from natural compounds with therapeutic efficacy. Without any supporting evidence, Tapinanthus globiferus has been widely used in ethnomedicine to cure fungal infections, diabetes, cancer, ulcers, and hypertension. The purpose of this study was to use agar well diffusion techniques to screen the phytochemical constituents and assess the antifungal properties of T. globiferus`s aqueous methanolic leaf extract against a few clinical fungal isolates, such as Alternaria nees, Microsphaeropsis arundis, and Aspergillus niger. The African mistletoe Tapinanthus globiferous is a parasitic plant that grows on several plants, including citrus, Videx doniana, Adensonia digitatata, Piliostigma thonningii etc. Saponins, tannins, cardiac glycosides, steroids, terpenoid, and flavonoids were detected in the Aqeous methanolic leaf extract of T. globiferus growing on Vitex doniana, Adensonia digitata, Vitellaria paradoxa, and Piliostigma thomningiii, but terpenoid was not present in the T. globiferous growing on Vitellaria paradoxa.. The presence of this antifungal activity of T. globiferous is not as a result of a single phytochemical. The MIC of T. globiferous growing on the host plants was determined using disc diffusion method. The antifungal activity of T. globiferous growing on the respective host plants increase with increase in concentration. At some concentration the activity of the extract is higher than that of Fluconazole. All the fungal isolates are susceptible to T. globiferous except Microsphaeropsis arundis. Since the aqueous methanolic leaf extract of T. globiferus exhibits strong antifungal activity against a few chosen fungus species and clearly supports the plant`s ethnomedical use in treating fungal infections, the use of this plant as an antifungal drug seems encouraging.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Fungi, T. globiferus A. digitate, Phytochemical screening, Extract, Antifungal screening

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