Andria Cristina Conegero Sanches Antifungal activity was determined by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum

fun gicidal concentration (MFC) against the yeasts Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis. All extracts (CE, EtOAc and FW), subfractions (F1-F12) and the compounds I, II and III were inactive against the yeasts. Against C. parapsilosis and C. albicans, fractions F13-15 and F20 showed moderate antifungal activity, and fractions F16-19 and F21-22 showed good activity. Chemical isolation of the ethyl-acetate fraction resulted in the identification of three compounds: epigallocatechin, gallocatechin and epigallocatechin-(48)-gallocatechin

V. Suvarna* and S. Patil

Abstract :The antifungal activity of different crude extracts of leaves of selected medicinal plants was evaluated against two human pathogenic fungi which include Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. In the present investigation petroleum petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water extracts of leaves of different Indian medicinal plants including Mangifera indica Linn, Ixora parviflora Vahl, Psydium guajava Linn, Calotropis procera Ait., were obtained and investigated individually for in vitro antifungal activity by cup plate method. Of all the plants investigated for antifungal activity, the extracts of Psydium guajava and Ixora parviflora showed high antifungal activity against all the tested fungal pathogens

Safety pharmacology studies help in identifying preclinical adverse drug reactions. We carried out routine safety pharmacology with focus on cardiovascular variables and pharmacokinetic herb-drug interaction studies on rats fed with standardized traditional hydro-alcoholic extract and technology-based supercritical extract of Cassia auriculata for 12 weeks. Our studies indicate that both these extracts are pharmacologically safe and did not show any significant adverse reactions at the tested doses. The traditional hydro-alcoholic extract did not show any significant effect on pharmacokinetics; however, the technology-based supercritical extract caused a significant reduction in absorption of metformin. Our results indicate the need to include pharmacokinetic herb-drug interaction studies as evidence for safety especially for technology-based extracts.

John Wiley ..The antifungal activity of the essential oil from Cinnamomum cassia, alone or combined with amphotericin B, a drug widely used for most indications despite side-effects was investigated. The composition of the oil was analysed by GC/MS and characterized by its very high content of

cinnamaldehyde (92.2%). The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC 80%), used to evaluate the antifungal activity against Candida albicans, was determined by a macrobroth dilution method followed by a modelling of fungal growth. The essential oil of Cinnamomum cassia exhibited strong antifungal effect (MIC 80% = 0.169 microL/mL and K(aff) = 18,544 microL/mL). A decrease of the MIC 80% of amphotericin B was obtained when the culture medium contained essential oil concentrations ranging from 0.08 to 0.1 microL/mL. The strongest decrease (70%) was obtained when the medium contained 0.1 microL/mL of essential oil. This potentiation of amphotericin B obtained in vitro may show promise for the development of less toxic and more effective therapies especially for the treatment of HIV infection. f. B.G.Shivananda..Cassia tora, Calendula officinalis and Momordica charantia are well known plants in Asia including India which posses wide range of pharmacological activities. These drugs have been used in India as folk remedy in the form of decoctions and infusions to treat bacterial infections and also claimed to be an effective against variety of skin conditions like psoriasis, acne, wounds etc. The present investigation was carried out to study the unexplored area of these drugs towards their antibacterial activity with respect to their traditional use as antipsoriatic agents. The herbs were subjected to successive extraction using different solvents and the extracts were subjected to antibacterial evaluation against both gram positive and gram negative organisms by cup plate technique. Among the various extracts, aqueous extracts were found to be more effective against all the bacteria. Staphyllococcus aureus was more susceptible to the aqueous extracts among the tested organisms.