EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ROOTS OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA FOR RINGWORM INFECTION

Koushlesh Kumar Mishra*, Dr. Hemant J. Dhongade, Nilesh Bhimrao Banarase and
Dharmendra Singh Rajput

ABSTRACT

The plant Achyranthes aspera is widely used in Ayurvedic system of medicine as Anti-diabetic, Anti-asthmatic, diuretic, Antiviral, Anti-carcinogenic, tooth brush, appetizer and cure gastric disorders. Roots are used in treatment of snakebites. Through literature survey it has been revealed that the paste of the roots of the plant is beneficial in treatment of ringworm infection. Thus, the study is carried out in order to determine the antifungal (ringworm) activity of the roots of the plant. The roots of the plant are subjected to extraction with water and ethanol. The antifungal activity was carried out using agar well diffusion method. All the plant extracts were compared with standard Clotrimazole (1%w/w) as positive control and distilled water, ethanol used as negative control. Accordingly ethanolic extract of the roots was found to more effective against Trichophyton rubrum as compared to aqueous extract.

Keywords: Antifungal, Clotrimazole, Trichophyton rubrum, Achyranthes aspera.