Formulation and Evaluation of Herbal Oil Comb...

Formulation and Evaluation of Herbal Oil Combination Against fungi Causing Nail and Skin infections

Author Name : Marina G D’Souza, Vivek V Byahatti, Sushil Patil, Amit Gaikwad, Laxmikanth. Borse

ABSTRACT Toenail infections commonly known as “Onychomycosis”, are infections which cause thick, fragile, discoloured and cracked nails. The nails slowly get separated from the nail bed. Few invasive fungal infections are life threatening. Present study involves development of formulation containing nine oils; castor oil, olive oil, linseed oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, tea tree oil, frankincense, guggul and eucalyptus oil. Oils were selected based on the previous literature reports. Main objective was to formulate the preparation for its application aiming at wide spectrum of antifungal activity. Organisms tested were clinical isolates from the patients, viz., Candida albicans, Trychophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. equinum & E. floccosum and a non-dermatophyte moulds Aspargillusniger and Aspargillustamarii. Antifungal activity was evaluated by agar well diffusion method. Assessment of antifungal activity was carried out by measuring zone of inhibition. (Kirby-Bauer Test). Clotrimazole 1% topical solution was used as standard drug for comparison. The formulation was effective against all the fungi (dermatophytes) test edshowing varied sensitivity; C.albicans, Aspargillusniger T. rubrum & T. mentagrophytes being the highest followed by E. floccosum, T. equinum, Aspargillustamarii. Dose dependent activity was observed.The study confirms that the formulation possess antifungal activity and can be well used to treat skin and nail fungal infection.