Antifungal Activity of Crude Solanum incanum Fruit Extracts Against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Exploratory Analysis of Virulence-Associated Gene Expression

Deta, Pita and Ogoti, Peter and Kiboi, Daniel and Bii, Christine (2026) Antifungal Activity of Crude Solanum incanum Fruit Extracts Against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Exploratory Analysis of Virulence-Associated Gene Expression. World's Veterinary Journal. 360 - 372. ISSN 23224568

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Abstract

Dermatophyte infections in humans and animals are a significant public health concern, and increasing resistance to antifungal medicines highlights the need to explore alternative therapeutic agents. The present study aimed to preliminarily assess the in vitro antifungal activity of crude extracts from Solanum incanum (S. incanum) fruit against Trichophyton mentagrophytes (T. mentagrophytes). Solanum incanum fruits were extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and water. The levels of phenolic, flavonoid, and alkaloid compounds were measured, and antifungal activity was assessed using disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) assays. Methanol and aqueous extracts exhibited the highest phenolic contents ( 19 mg Gallic Acid Equivalents/g extract) and demonstrated significant antifungal activity, producing inhibition zones of 14.46 mm and 8.57 mm, respectively, at a concentration of 5 mg/mL. However, terbinafine demonstrated marginally greater inhibitory activity (15.02 mm) at a lower concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. The present findings indicated that using methanol and aqueous extracts of S. incanum fruit was associated with lower transcript levels of the targeted virulence-related genes (SUB3 and StuA). The current findings provided preliminary evidence regarding the antifungal activity of S. incanum fruit extract against T. mentagrophytes at a concentration of 5 mg/mL, indicating its potential as an antifungal agent. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Antifungal activity; Bioactive compound; Dermatophyte; Gene expression; Medicinal plant
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	World's Veterinary Journal (WVJ)
Page Range:	360 - 372
Journal or Publication Title:	World's Veterinary Journal
Journal Index:	Scopus
Volume:	16
Number:	2
Publisher:	Scienceline Publication
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.54203/scil.2026.wvj34
ISSN:	23224568
Depositing User:	Dr. Alireza Sadeghi
URI:	https://eprints.science-line.com/id/eprint/1700

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