The in Vitro Inhibitory Effects of the Aqueous Extracts of Summer Onion on Candida Albicans

Candidiasis is one of the most common opportunistic fungal diseases in humans. This disease is caused by a fungus، yeast called Candida. Candida vaginitis is the most important fungal disease in wo-men. Traditionally، in western Iran for the treatment of vaginal infections، many diff-erent plant extracts are used. In this study، the inhibitory effect of aqueous extracts of Summer Bulbs was studied on isolated sam-ples of Candida albicans fungal vaginitis.

The plant samples were dried in a warm، dry and away from direct sunlight condition. And the extract was prepared by standard herbal extraction method. The samples were collected from pediatrics clinics and stored in incubator at 37°C for 24 hours. The effects of extract were evaluated through disk diffusion and the diffusion embedding sink method، and every sample was tested three times.

The aqueous extract of the plant at the concentrations of 5، 10، 20، and 40 mg/mL had the least effects on Candida al-bicans، however at the concentration of 80 mg/mL the diameter of the Candia growth zone on agar was very small. Discussion &

Given the prese-nce of saponins in the plant، it was expected to have significant inhibitory effect on the fungus. The aqueous extract of this plant has probably lesser amount of antifungal material; therefore the phenolic or alcoholic extract of this plant should be used.