Estudo da ação antifúngica de ERYTHROXYLUM SUBROTUNDUM sobre cepas do gênero CANDIDA.

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used in many cultures over thousands of years and information on the use of natural sources plays a crucial role in the discovery of new products developed from plants as chemotherapeutic agents. The plants have made and are part of the life of man since the beginning of mankind and also inserted in the academic scope where it is historical the conviction of the potentialities of the use of plant species for the development of new medicines. Species of the genus Erythroxylum are used in folk medicine for the treatment of bacterial and viral infections of the skin, amenorrhea, hemorrhages, renal and respiratory infections. In addition, the plant also has use as a fungicide. In view of the limited spectrum of antifungal agents currently present in the market, when compared to the large scale of antibacterial drugs, and the increasingly common problem of resistance of microorganisms to drugs, alternatives have been sought for the development of new drugs. Thus the present study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of Erythroxylum subrotundum on strains of Candida sp., C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and C. krusei. Using the microdilution technique.