Comparative Phytochemical and Antifungal Activities of Stem and Root Bark Extracts of Vitellaria paradoxa (Shea Butter) Tree

Abstract

Vitellaria paradoxa is used in traditional medicine for treatment of fungal infections. This research was designed to comparatively investigate the phytochemicals and the antifungal potentials of the stem and root bark extracts of V. paradoxa. The powdered stem and root barks were extracted successively by maceration using n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. Crude methanol extracts were also obtained by extraction of fresh powdered samples with methanol using maceration. Antifungal profiles of the extracts were examined against clinical isolates of Aspergillus niger and Candida albican using standard procedure. The crude extract and fractions of stem showed higher activity against Candida albican with zones of inhibition ranging from 10-25 mm. Aspergillus niger was more susceptible to the root extracts with zones of inhibition range of 9-23 mm. For both stem and root, the crude methanol extracts showed more activity than their corresponding fractions. For the fractions, methanol showed highest activity followed by n-hexane. The test organisms were resistant to dichloromethane extract of root. A. niger was resistant to dichloromethane extract. The result also showed that activity of all the extracts is concentration dependent. Fluconazole powder was used as control which showed higher activity than all the extracts at concentration of 5 mg/mL. The preliminary phytochemical screening was carried out using standard procedures on both stem and root and it revealed the presence of steroids/triterpenes, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, carbohydrates and proteins. The antifungal activity may be due to the presence of these phytochemicals. Therefore, V. paradoxa could be used as a potential source of antifungal substance for a drug development.