Annals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2016; 1 (1): 4-8 4 | Page ADEOLA TOLULOPE ADEYELU 1 , VICTOR OLUSEGUN OYETAYO 1 , SAMUEL IMISI AWALA 1 1 Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure P. M. B 704, Akure, Nigeria Received 11 March 2016 Accepted 24 April 2016 Introduction Infections caused by Candida species have risen in recent years. Several factors such as compromised immune sys- tems, prolonged hospitalization, long term exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics, cytotoxic chemotherapies, transplantation, surgical procedures and use of catheters have contributed to this emergence [1,2]. Candida albi- cans is majorly implicated in causing candidiasis. Howev- er, other species of Candida such as C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis have appeared to cause infection mainly due to the escalated resistance to antifungal agents [3, 4]. The limited amount of effective antifungal drugs, their decreasing efficacy to pathogenic fungi alongside the various sides effects associated with their use has spurred an urgent need to search for new and effective antifungal agents with minimal side effects [5]. Mushrooms are capable of producing diverse biomole- cules in order to protect themselves from fungal pathogens [6]. This makes them an excellent source of novel anti- fungal agents applicable in modern medicine for the treatment of fungal infections. Some low molecular weight antifungal compounds such as grifolin, australic acid, methyl australate and applanoxidic acid have been isolated from various wild mushrooms [7, 8]. Trametes species are mushrooms which are widely distributed in nature and have been used for treatment of ailments in Chinese Traditional medicine [9]. Correspondence to: Samuel Imisi Awala Email: Imisioluwaawala@gmail.com ABSTRACT Objective: Anti-candidal property of extracts of wild macrofungus Trametes lactinea on clinically isolated Candida species was investigated. Methods: The extracts were then screened for their phy- toconstituent composition qualitatively and quantitative- ly. In addition, the extracts were assessed for their anti- candidal efficacy against sixty-seven (67) Candida spe- cies isolated from high vaginal swabs of female patients attending ten (10) selected hospitals. Results: Methanol had the best yield (3.2mg/g), while the least yield was with n-hexane (0.7mg/g). Saponin, tannin, steroid, terpenoid and cardiac glycoside were found in all the extracts. The methanol extract had the highest amount of cardiac glycoside (14.31mg/g), sapo- nin (17.94mg/g) and tannin (3.56mg/g). The acetone ex- tract had the highest steroid content (3.73mg/g), while the highest terpernoid (2.06mg/g) content was found in the n-hexane extract. For the anti-candidal efficacy of the extracts, the zones of inhibition produced by the macro- fungus extracts against the Candida species ranged from 2.33 to 17.00mm, 4.33 to 12.33mm and 3.30 to 17.33mm for methanol, acetone and n-hexane extracts respectively. The highest (17.33mm) and least (2.33mm) inhibitory zone was produced against Candida albicans (A1) from Mother and child Hospital, Akure by the acetone and n- hexane extract of T. lactinea respectively. Conclusions: Results from this study reveals that bioac- tive compounds with effective anti-candidal effect is pre- sent in extracts obtained from T. lactinea. The bioactive compounds may serve as a good alternative to anti- candidal drugs that are fast becoming ineffective. KEY WORDS: Candida Trametes lactinea Phytochemical Extracts Trametes vesicolor also known as Turkey tail remain the most studied of the genus Trametes. It has been reported to be effective in the treatment of ailments such as liver diseases, cancer, viral infections and others [10, 11, 12]. However, information on the medicinal potentials of other Evaluation of the anti-candidal property of a wild macro- fungus, Trametes lactinea , on clinically isolated Candida species