Abstract
The increase in dermatophytoses and the fact that some patients do not respond well to therapy make it necessary to find new antifungal agents. As part of our ongoing studies on medicinal plants from Iran, we studied antidermatophytic activities of Ferula latisecta essential oil, which had shown considerable antifungal activity in preliminary antimicrobial screening. Antifungal activity was evaluated by determination of MIC values using the agar dilution method on type strains of Candida albicans and dermatophytes. The composition of the oil was characterized by GC and GC/MS analyses. The essential oil was rich in polysulfides (75.2%) and exhibited good activity against Trichophyton rubrum and T. verrucosom for about three weeks, with a MIC value 96 μg/mL. The oil showed antifungal activity, especially against dermatophytes, and the activity is probably related to the sulfur-containing components of the oil. This study has identified that the polysulfides-rich essential oil of Ferula latisecta fruits has activity against a range of human pathogenic dermatophytes, justifying future clinical trials to validate its use as a therapeutic alternative for dermatophytosis.