Caracterização e avaliação da atividade antifungica das lectinas de dioclea virgata, canavalia maritima e canavalia brasiliensis em culturas de fungos dermatófitos e Malassezia

Abstract

With the increase in cases of dermatomycosis and limited antifungal options, new specific research into the treatment of fungi in veterinary medicine is needed. The present work aimed to determine whether the lectins purified in chitin from extracts produced by the seeds of the plants Canavalia brasiliensis, C. maritima and Dioclea virgata had antifungal activity against the fungi Microsporum canis, M. gypseum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Malassezia. For that, sterile filter paper discs containing with purified extracts of the aforementioned plants were used in amounts of 5, 10, 20 and 40 µg of proteins for the tests and Clotrimazole at 5 and 10 µg as control, distributed on Sabouraud agar medium containing the aforementioned fungi. As a result, none of the extracts tested showed inhibition of fungal growth at the concentrations tested. However, additional tests with higher concentrations of proteins, in addition to new subcultures to check whether there was damage to future colonies, are recommended to investigate the possible antifungal activity of the lectins in question.