Examining the anti-candidal activity of 10 selected Indian herbs and investigating the effect of Lawsonia inermis extract on germ tube formation, protease, phospholipase, and aspartate dehydrogenase enzyme activity in Candida albicans

The objective of the study is to identify potential anti-candidal agents from natural resources and elucidate the effect of Lawsonia inermis extract on major virulent factors of Candida albicans. Plants, the most abundant and readily available resource of diverse bioactives, were chosen for the anti-candidal screening study. Ten different plants that were proven to have antimicrobial activity but not explored much for anti-candidal activity were chosen for this study. Ethyl acetate extract of these plant leaves were tested for the anti-candidal activity. Extracts with good anti-candidal activity were further screened for its effect in C. albicans germ tube formation and enzyme (protease, phospholipase, and aspartate dehydrogenase) activity. Among 10 plants screened, L. inermis extract showed complete inhibition of C. albicans. On further evaluation, this extract completely inhibited C. albicans germ tube formation in serum until the end of incubation period (3 h). This extract also exhibited dose-dependent inhibitory activity against two major virulent enzymes of C. albicans, proteases (27-33%) and phospholipases (44.5%). In addition to it, this extract completely inhibited both the isoforms of constitutive candidal enzyme aspartate dehydrogenase, thereby affecting amino acid biosynthesis. Thus, this study confirms the anti-candidal potential of L. inermis and hence can be considered further for development of anti-candidal drug.