International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 4 (2013) pp. 31-37
Antifungal activity of Euphorbia hirta L. inflorescence extract against Aspergillus flavus A mode of action study
A. Gayathri and K.Vijaya Ramesh*
*Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology Quaid-e-Millath Government College for Women, Chennai 600 002, Tamil Nadu. *Corresponding author: ramesh.vijaya67@gmail.com
A B S T R A C T
Euphorbia hirta Linn., a common garden weed belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae is proving to be a herb having a multitude of medicinal properties. Scientific proof for antifungal activities of medicinal plants usually stagnates with the studies of the respective plant parts against many fungi. Very few reports go further into it and verify the mode of action of these antifungal agents. In our study, we have proved that the ethyl acetate extract of the inflorescence of E. hirta exhibits possible antifungal activity targeting the cell membrane which could result in leakage of cellular proteins thereby estimated by the method. In this study the minimum inhibitory concentration of the extract was chosen. 
Keywords
Euphorbia hirta L; inflorescence; antifungal; cell membrane; Protein leakage.