Investigation of the anti-growth effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Artemisia deserti on Malassezia furfur isolated from clinical specimen

Fungi Malasezia furfur (M. furfur) is the causative agent of pityriasis versicolor disease. The compounds in the Artemisia deserti (A. deserti) have antimicrobial properties. The purpose of this research is investigation of the antifungal effect of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of plant A. deserti on the M. furfur in the laboratory conditions.
From the A. deserti plant by the method of percolation, the aqueous and alcoholic extracts were prepared and then concentration of 40, 50, 60 and 70 mg/ml was made. In order to evaluate the antifungal effects of these extracts on M. furfur in laboratory Disc diffusion method, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentrations (MFC) was investigated. SPSS21 software and the two-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data (p Maximum diameter of inhibition growth by application of ethanolic, methanolic and aqueous extracts was 18, 17.33 and 13.66 millimeter, respectively that were seen in the concentration of 70 mg/ml. M. furfur fungus was more susceptible to ethanolic extract of A. deserti. The MIC and MFC of the aqueous extracts with 25×103 and 5×103, respectively, was better in comparison to MIC and MFC of other extracts. Also, with an increase in the concentration of the extracts, the antifungal effect was also increased (p Different extractions had different effect on the diameter of growth inhibition and by increasing the concentration of extracts, the diameter of growth inhibition increased too. With more research in the in-vivo, it is hoped that this plant will be used in the future as a combination to treat skin diseases caused by this fungus.