Antidermatophyte efficacy of the secondary metabolites extracted from Citrullus colocynthis L. fruits

The present study, was conducted to investigate the effect of the crude alkaloid, terpenoid, and flavonoid extracts from Citrullus colocynthis L. fruits against dermatophyte species such as Chrysosporium sp., Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis, Trichophyton quinckeanum, and Trichophyton interdigitale isolated from clinical samples in the province of Babil, Iraq during 2022. Antifungal activity was achieved in vitro using food poisoning method against dermatophyte species by preparing three concentrations for each crude compound including 5, 10, and 15 mg mL-1 and compared to positive control represented by Fluconazole 150 mg and a negative control represented by 10% dimethyl sulfoxide. The aim of this study was to control of dermatophyte species isolated from clinical samples using secondary metabolites extracted from Citrullus colocynthis L. fruits. The data collected from the study revealed that the crude alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids extracts from Citrullus colocynthis L. fruits showed significant reduction at p < 0.05 in the growth of dermatophyte species especially at 15 mg mL-1 compared with negative control and the same effects compared to the Fluconazole. Finally, it can be concluded that Citrullus colocynthis L. is most effective in controlling dermatophyte species.