An Antidermatophytic Agent from Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Staud

Gliricidia sepium is a medicinal plant that has been established to have antidermatophytic activity. This research was able to isolate an antidermatophytic agent from the leaves of the plant. Leaves of Gliricidia sepium, locally known as kakaoati, were collected from the College of Science area of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. These were air dried, grounded and immersed in methanol. Different fractions were obtained by partitioning with hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate. These fractions were bioassayed to determine the fractions with the most antifungal activity using Trichophyton mentagrophytes as test organism. Inhibitory zone in millimeters was obtained and it was found out that the most active fraction was the hexane fraction with an inhibition zone of 25 mm as compared to chloroform with 16 mm and ethyl acetate with 18 mm.