Anticandidal and Antistaphylococcal potentials of extracts of Pleurotus pulmonarius fortified with Zinc and Iron

In the last three to four decades, the resistance of microorganisms to commercial antibiotics had been in the increase. This therefore necessitated the search for safe and effective antimicrobial agents for treating microbial infection in man. The anticandidal and antistaphylococcal properties of extracts of Pleurotus pulmonarius enriched with zinc and iron was assessed in this study. Fortification of P. pulmonarius with the mineral elements however did not have any pronounced effect on the phytochemical constituent except tannin content that slightly increased in iron (2.45 mg/g) and zinc (2.25 mg/g) above the non fortified P. pulmonarius (1.95 mg/g). Extracts of P. pulmonarius fortified with the mineral elements displayed better anticandidal effect on Candida albicans isolated from the nose which was resistant to extracts obtained from non mineral fortified P. pulmonarius . Extracts of iron and iron/zinc fortified P. pulmonarius exhibited higher and significantly different antistaphylococcal effects compared with the non mineral fortified P. pulmonarius . The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the extracts against Candida species ranged between 25 and 100 mg/mL while the MIC against the Staphylococcus species was 25 mg/mL. Data gathered from this study showed that fortification with the two mineral elements, Zn and Fe, slightly improved the anticandidal and antistaphylococcal potentials of extracts obtained from P. pulmonarius . Mineral element fortified P. pulmonarius could therefore be developed into effective anticandidal and antistaphylococcal agents.