Effectiveness of red fruit (Pandanus conoideus Lam.) on Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) in the field of prosthodontics: An experimental study

Aim: This research aimed at investigating the effectiveness of antifungal obtained from red fruit in the treatment of C. albicans. Materials and Methods: The disk diffusion method was used to examine the inhibition zone from red fruit in methanol, n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water fractions with concentration of 25%, 50%, and 75%, and also chlorhexidine (2%) as control. The fraction that has a greatest antifungal effect toward C. albicans was further tested for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) with microdilution method and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) with potato dextrose agar media culture. Data analysis was carried out descriptively on inhibition zone test and MFC, whereas the experimental, analytical study was performed on MIC with Saphiro-Wilk test followed by one-sample t test. Results: The findings showed that the ethyl acetate fraction had the best antifungal effectivity against C. albicans as compared with methanol, n-hexane, and water fractions at all concentrations, although it was slightly less than the chlorhexidine control 2%. MIC of ethyl acetate fraction was 15.63mg/mL, whereas its MFC was 31.25mg/mL. MIC analysis with one-sample t test showed that ethyl acetate fraction of red fruit had a significant effect on C. albicans (P = 0.0053). Conclusion: This research showed that the ethyl acetate fraction from red fruit can be used as an antifungal agent for C. albicans.