Anti-yeast potential of some Annonaceae species from Cameroonian biodiversity

An increased incidence of candidiasis and cryptococcosis has been recorded within the last two decades, mainly due to the increase in number of immunocompromised patients. Moreover, the emergence of resistant pathogenic yeast strains coupled with the shortcomings of the available antifungal drugs have emphasized the need of new drugs. Within this framework, this study aimed at investigating extracts from fourteen Annonaceae plants species in vitro against the major causative agents of mycoses, namely Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans . Plant extracts and partitioned fractions were screened by broth dilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal  concentration (MFC) of extracts were determined by microdilution method and subculture. Also, the effect of combined active hexane fraction (UAst H) of Uvaria angolensis stem extract with the reference ketoconazole was studied. MIC values ranged from 0.625 mg/mL (for the leaf extract of Uvaria banmanni- UBl) to ≥10 mg/mL. Fraction UAst H showed the broadest spectrum activity with MIC value of 2.5 mg/mL against all the tested yeasts. Moreover, UAst H exhibited synergistic interaction on C. albicans , Cr. neoformans and C. parapsilosis when combined with ketoconazole. Overall, the results achieved in this study are promising and indicate that plants species from Annonaceae family are possible sources of potent and synergistic anti-yeast extracts. Keywords : Annonaceae, Extract, Antifungal, Combination, Synergism.