Adrika Paul, Anoushka Dutta, Sansa Dutta and Rajyasri Ghosh

Senna sophera is reported to be used in Ayurveda, Unani, folk medicine and homoeopathy for treatment of a number of clinical conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, skin infections, diabetes etc. In the present investigation an attempt has been taken to study the antifungal and antibacterial activity of ethanolic leaf extract and homoeopathic mother tincture of Senna against Aspergillus niger. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis of leaf extract showed the presence of alkaloid, tannin, anthraquinone glycoside, protein, carbohydrate, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, high concentrations of phenols, flavonoid and antioxidant activity. Senna leaf extract demonstrated strong inhibitory effect on radial growth of A. niger in a concentration-dependent manner in solid PDA medium. Highest inhibition rate of 78.75% was noted at 40% concentration. The concentration of 300 ppm Senna mother tincture resulted in complete inhibition (100%) of mycelial growth. Significant inhibition was also noted at 100ppm and 200ppm concentrations. Antibacterial assay with Senna leaf extract demonstrated greater inhibitory effect (1.4-fold) against E. coli than Bacillus sp. Docking studies of gallic acid and quercetin with Farnesyltransferase (FTase) from Aspergillus fumigatus showed strong interaction of amino acids of the enzyme with the polyphenols. Present study revealed a great potential to utilise this medicinal plant for development of novel antimycotic drug.

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