Antifungal Efficacy of Wrightia tinctoria (Roxb.) R.Br on Candida Species Isolated from the Oral Cavity: an Invitro Study

Introduction: Nature is a valuable source of active ingredients that needs to be explored, especially its utilization in the medical field. Owing to the limited availability of antifungal drugs and also considering their side effects, there is always a constant need for a safe and competent alternative. Wrightia tinctoria, a medicinal tree, has been reported to possess potent antifungal activity against commercially available candida strains [American type culture collection (ATCC) and microbial type culture collection (MTCC)]. This could be beneficial clinically only if its antifungal activity could be proved against candida species isolated from clinical samples as the commercially available candida strains might have lost its pathophysiological characteristics on repeated subcultures. Hence, with this background, we performed this study to determine the antifungal efficacy of the extracts obtained from the leaves of W. tinctoria against the candida species isolated from the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to determine the antifungal efficacy of W. tinctoria on candida species isolated from the oral cavity. Materials and Methods: To determine the antifungal activity, acetone, ethyl acetate, and chloroform extracts of leaves of W. tinctoria were used. The study population consisted of five healthy volunteers above 18 years of age without any harmful habits and five patients at increased risk of candida infection. Saliva samples were collected by oral rinse technique using phosphate buffered saline. Fluconazole was used as a positive control and the antifungal efficacy was determined using disk diffusion method. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine the significant difference between the extracts. Results: The mean zone of inhibition of acetone, ethyl acetate, and chloroform extracts of leaves of W. tinctoria was 10.8667, 11.0000, 10.1333 mm, respectively. Conclusion: Acetone, ethyl acetate, and chloroform extracts of W. tinctoria possess antifungal activity against candida species isolated from oral cavity.