Abdel-Hadi Al-Ja’fari, Roser Vila, Blanca Freixa, Felix Tomi, Joseph Casanova, Joan Costa, Salvador Cañigueral
Abstract
The antifungal activity of hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and aqueous extracts from the rhizome and root of
Ferula hermonis was assayed in vitro by the agar disk diffusion method against a panel of human opportunistic
and pathogenic fungi. Among them, the hexane and dichloromethane extracts showed the highest activity
particularly against the dermatophytes Microsporum gypseum and Tricophyton mentagrophytes as well as the
yeast Candida lactis-condensi. Activity-guided fractionation of both extracts using an agar overlay bioautographic
method led to the isolation of two antifungal compounds which were identified as the daucane aryl esters
jaeschkeanadiol p-hydroxybenzoate (ferutinin) and jaeschkeanadiol benzoate (teferidin). Determination of
minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) values of both compounds
evidenced a stronger antifungal activity for ferutinin than for teferidin. Particularly, T. mentagrophytes was the
most sensitive strain with MIC and MFC values ranging from 8 to 256 mg/mL.
عبدالهادي محمد عبدالهادي الجعفري | Abdel Hadi M. Al Jafari | 2957