Sopa Kummee, Supinya Tewtrakul, and Sanan Subhadhirasakul

pp. 463 - 466

Abstract

         The antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extract of Kaempferia parviflora was tested against human pathogens, including bacteria, yeast and dermatophyte fungi, using the agar disc diffusion. The ethanol extract exhibited strong antifungal activity against dermatophytes with clear zone values from 10.7-19.8 mm at concentration of 2 mg/disc. However,
ethanol extract showed no activities against all bacteria and yeast tested. The ethanol extract and seven compounds of K. parviflora were further studied using agar dilution method against dermatophytes. It was found that the ethanol extract of K. parviflora exhibited strong anti-fungal activity against Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Microsporum
gypseum with MIC values of 62.5, 125 and 250 µg/ml, respectively. Only compound 6 (3, 5, 7-trimethoxyflavone) present in this extract showed appreciable anti-fungal activity with MIC values of 250 µg/ml against these three dermatophytes.
         According to the obtained results, compound 6 could be responsible only in part of the antifungal effect of the EtOH extract. The antifungal activity of the EtOH extract of K. parviflora supports its traditional use for the treatment of dermatophyte infections