Abstract
Although numerous drugs are available for the treatment of superficial fungi infections of skin, the clinical effects of the majority of such drugs are not satisfactory. In the hope of searching the effective drugs for superficial fungi infections, authors studied whether Veratrum rhizoma extracts had any effect on fungi, with water extract (VRWE), ethanol extract (VREE) and methanol extract (VRME) from Veratrum album L. var. grandiflorum Max. In in vitro studies, the spores of fungi were inoculated on Sabouraud's glucose agar media which contained three extracts of Veratrun rhizoma in each concentration of $500\;{\mu}g/ml$, $1,000\;{\mu}g/ml$ and $5,000\;{\mu}g/ml$ respectively, and the growth of the fungi were observed for 3 weeks. The species of the fungi used in these experiments were Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporum canis, Microsporum nanum, Microsporum gypseum, Microsporum cookei, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton tonsurans and Trichophyton verrucosum. The results of the studies were as follows: 1. The growth of M. canis, M. nanum, T mentagrophytes and T. tonsurans were slightly inhibited by VRWE $1,000\;{\mu}g/ml$, and with VRWE $5,000\;{\mu}g/ml$, the growth of E. floccosum, M. gypseum and T. rubrum were slightly inhibited, moderate inhibition on the growth of M. canis, M. nanum, M. cookei, T. mentagrophytes and T. tonsurans were showed by VRWE $5,000\;{\mu}g/ml$. 2. With $500\;{\mu}g/ml$ of VREE, the inhibition on growth of E. floccosum, M. nanum and M. gypseum were slight, however significant inhibition on the growth of M. canis, M. cookei, T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans were observed. The growth of M. nanum and M. gypseum were moderately inhibited, and significant inhibition on the growth of E. floccosum, M. canis, M. cookei, T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans were observed by VREE $1,000\;{\mu}g/ml$. By VREE $5,000\;{\mu}g/ml$, the growth of all tested fungi were significantly inhibited except T. verrucosuia being showed slight inhibition. 3. Significant inhibition on the growth of M. canis, T, mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans were noted, and moderate inhibition of M. nanum, slight inhibition of E. floccosum and M. gypseum in growth were observed by VRME $500\;{\mu}g/ml$. The growth of E. floccosum, M. canis, M. nanum, M. cookei, T. mentsgrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans were significantly inhibited by VRME $1,000\;{\mu}g/ml$, and that of M. gypseum was moderate. With $5,000\;{\mu}g/ml$ of VRME, significant inhibition on the growth of E. floccosum, M. canis, M. nanum, M. gypseum, M. cookei, T mentagrophytes, T. rubrum and T. tonsurans were observed, and T. verrucosum was showed only slight inhibition. From the above results, it was found that the extracts of organic solvents from Veratrum rhizoma (VREE & VRME) exerted significant antifungal activity, and their effects were probably derived from the pharmacological action of steroidal alkaloids.