Phcog J | Dec 2012 | Vol 4 | Issue 33 35 ORIGINAL ARTICLE PHCOG J ABSTRACT Introduction: The current research has focused on the potentiality of medicinal plants for treatment of Candida albicans infections. Five plants viz. Clerodendron colebrookianum Walp. (Leaf), Gnetum gnemon L. (Leaf), Sarcochlamys pulcherrima (Roxb.) Gaud. (Leaf), Garcinia lancifolia (Don) Roxb (Leaf) and Euryale ferox Salisb. (Seed), used as traditional medicines in Cachar district, Assam, India were selected to evaluate in vitro activity against C. albicans. Methods: The plant samples were extracted with methanol. Agar well diffusion assay was used to test the activity of the plant extracts and broth microdilution method was used to determine the MIC. Results: All extracts showed anticandidial activity with zones of inhibition ranging from 17 to 25 mm at 2 × 10 5 µg/ml extract. E. ferox and S. pulcherrima showed the highest activity with the MIC value of 1.25 × 10 4 µg/ml. The remaining extracts were comparatively less effective showing MIC value of 2.5 × 10 4 µg/ml. Conclusions: Anticandidial activity of the plants extracts, observed in this study highlighted further in vivo investigation and identifcation of the active compounds for therapeutic uses. The anticandidial activity of S. pulcherrima and G. lancifolia is probably the frst report to the best of our knowledge. Keywords: Anticandidial activity, Euryale ferox, Garcinia lancifolia, Sarcochlamys pulcherrima. In vitro activity of some medicinal plants from Cachar district, Assam (India) against Candida albicans Afjal Hussain Mazumder, 1 * Jayshree Das, 1 Hemanta Kumar Gogoi, 1 Pronobesh Chattopadhyay, 1 Lokendra Singh 2 and Satya Bhushan Paul 3 1 Defence Research Laboratory Tezpur, Post Bag No.-02, Assam-784001, India 2 Directorate of Life Sciences, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India, DRDO HQ New Delhi, India 3 Department of Chemistry, Assam University, Silchar,Assam-788011, India Submission Date: 30-5-2012; Review completed: 19-7-2012 INTRODUCTION Candida species produce a wide spectrum of diseases, rang- ing from superfcial mucocutaneous disease to systemic candidiasis. Among the Candida species, the most pre- dominant species is Candida albicans. [1] Clinico-mycological profle from the Northeast India also revealed that C. albicans was the common pathogen amongst the Candida species. [2] Emergence of multi drug resistant strains and failure of existing antifungal agents to cure Candida infec- tions especially C. albicans is now a therapeutic challenge. Within the limited data available, an increased incidence of invasive candidiasis, aspergillosis and zygomycosis was reported by Chakrabarti et. al. (2008) of which the invasive candidiasis is the most common opportunistic mycosis. [3] Cachar district of Assam, India, an excellent reservoir of fora, together with the traditional information on their medicinal uses acts as a natural resource to target antimi- crobial agent. Medicinal plants used traditionally could be one potent source for such antifungal agents for treat- ment of Candida infections, as evidenced from the results of antimicrobial screening of medicinal plants, reported from time to time. Selection of plants, based on ethno- pharmacological perspective enhances the probability of success in new drug discovery efforts. [11,12] Natural prod- ucts, either as pure compounds or as standardized plant extracts, provide unlimited opportunities for the develop- ment of new drugs. [13] Results of the extensive research on herbs, carried out throughout the world, unfurled the potentiality of developing antimicrobial agents from the plants. [4–6,8–10] In the present study we have considered Clerodendron cole- brookianum Walp. (Leaf), (Verbenaceae), Gnetum gnemon L. (Leaf), (Gnetaceae) Sarcochlamys pulcherrima (Roxb.) Gaud. (Leaf), (Urticaceae) Garcinia lancifolia (Don) Roxb (Leaf), (Clusiaceae)and Euryale ferox Salisb. (Seed), *Corresponding author. Afjal Hussain Mazumder, Defence Research Laboratory Tezpur, Post Bag No.-02, Assam-784001, India E-mail: mdafjal123@rediffmail.com DOI: 10.5530/pj.2012.33.6