Activities of Leaf Extracts of <i>Mangifera indica</i> and <i>Acalypha wilkesiana</i> on Clinical Isolates of <i>Trichosporon asahi </i>

Trichosporon yeasts are non-candida yeast which are linked to an extraordinarily high death rate and have been reported to be responsible for deadly intrusive trichosporonosis. Patients with compromised immune system are at more risk of being infected with Trichosporon asahi. Most drugs such as amphotericin B used for the treatment of candidiasis have shown treatment failure for trichosporonosis and were reported to be hepatotoxic. The aim of this work was to analyze the effects of leaf extracts of Mangifera indica and Acalypha wilkesiana as alternative therapeutic agents for the treatment of trichosporonosis. Internal transcribed region was used as target to identify the clinical isolate of pathogenic fungi. The sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer region was queried against the National Center for Biotechnology Information database to identify the fungi specie. The alignment of sequence of each locus was done using the NCBI BLAST and the accession sequences for all the 6 isolates was formed. The phytochemical screening of the extracts showed significant level of alkaloids and phenolic contents in ethylacetate extract of Acalypha wilkesiana compared to ethanol extract of Mangifera indica which had a higher flavonoid content. The crude extracts were partially purified into fractions using column chromatography. Micro well dilution technique was used to evaluate the minimum inhibitory activities of the fractions. The most potent fraction of Mangifera indica showed MIC 0.25mg/ml and MFC 1.0 mg/ml while that of Acalypha wilkisiana had MIC 0.5mg/ml and MFC1.0 mg/ml. In conclusion, both Mangifera indica and Acalypha wilkisiana showed inhibitory activities against clinical isolates of Trichosporon asahi.