Abstract. – Objectives: Ganoderma (G.) boninense is a white rot fungus, which can be found in the palm oil tree. Several studies have shown that G. boninense has antimicrobial and antagonistic properties. However, there is limited information reported on antifungal properties especially on Candida (C.) albicans. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the anti-Can- dida activity of G. boninense against C. albicans. Materials and Methods: Crude methanolic extracts of G. boninense was obtained by macer- ation method with 70% methanol. Anti-Candida test was carried out using disc diffusion assay, broth dilution method, time killing profile and brine shrimp toxicity assay. Results and Conclusions: Anti-Candida ac- tivity indicated that the mean zone of inhibition was 12.5 ± 0.6 mm. The MIC value for C. albicans found to be 3.125 mg/ml. The result from time- killing profile showed that the growth of C. albi- cans was inhibited hence decreases its exponen- tial phase. For brine shrimp toxicity assay, the LC 50 value was 3.59 mg/ml which proved that the extract of G. boninense is not toxic. Key Words: Ganoderma boninense, Antifungal, Candida albi- cans, Brine shrimp assay. Introduction Candida (C.) albicans isamemberofthenor- mal flora of the gastrointestinal tract that often causes serious oral and vaginal mucosa invasion and systemic disease in hosts with impaired im- mune defences. C. albicans is a causative agent associated with serious fungal infection, account- ing for more than 90% of candidiasis cases 1,2 . Candidiasis is known as the most common inva- sive fungal infections in critically ill non-neu- European Reviewfor Medical and Pharmacological Sciences Anti-Candida activity and brine shrimp toxicity assay of Ganoderma boninense K.M.A. DARULIZA, L. FERNANDEZ, R. JEGATHAMBIGAI*, S. SASIDHARAN Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), University Sains Malaysia, Penang (Malaysia) *Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology, Kedah (Malaysia) Corresponding Author: Sreenivasan Sasidharan, Ph.D.; e-mail: srisasidharan@yahoo.com 43 tropenic patients 3 . The management of Candida infections faces a number of problems including limitednumberofeffectiveantifungaldrugs,tox- icity of the available antifungal drugs, resistance of Candida to commonly used antifungal drugs, relapse of Candida infections and the high cost ofantifungaldrugs 4-7 . Ganoderma (G.) boninense is a white rot fun- gus which can be found on the palm oil tree. For thousands of years, Ganoderma (also known as Lingzhi or Reishi) has been considered by the Chinese to be of high quality herbal medication. This genus of fungi possesses valuable bioactive compounds which have promising prospects in the medical arena. Various reports suggest its us- es as antitumour 8 , antibacterial 9 , anti-inflamma- tory 10 andantiviral 11 agent. To date, most of the researches on G. boni- nense isconcentratedonitspathogenicityagainst palm oil but there is still inadequate data on its health benefits. Previous investigations on the medicinal properties of this species make it com- mendable for further studies. A research con- ducted by Ofodile et al 12 , showed antimicrobial activity of G. boninense against Pseudomonas syringae and Bacillus subtilis. Since the species does exhibit some antimicrobial properties, it is thus also worth enquiring its anticandidal activi- ties which may perhaps provide positive ramifi- cations for candidiasis. Hence, this current study was carried out to determine the antifungal activ- ity of crude extract of Ganoderma boninense against Candida albicans. Materials and Methods Methanolic Extraction of G. boninense Fresh samples of Ganoderma boninense were collected from USM (University Science 2012;16:43-48