Antifungal activity of the benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids from Chelidonium majus Linn against resistant clinical yeast isolates

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The herb of Chelidonium majus Linn is known to possess a variety of biological activities and applied in the therapy of various infectious diseases. Aim of the study: To evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of the active components from Chelidonium majus against clinical drug-resistant yeast isolates. Materials and methods: Active compounds were obtained using bioassay-guided method. Six species of yeast fungi were exposed to the compounds. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined according to the standard broth microdilution method. Results: Of the six compounds determined, 8-hydroxydihydrosanguinarine (1) and 8-hydroxydihydrochelerythrine (2) demonstrated potent activity with the MIC ranges of 2-80 and 4-100 mu g/mL, respectively. Dihydrosanguinarine (3), dihydrochelerythrine (4), sanguinarine (5) and chelerythrine (6) had some degree of antifungal activity. Conclusions: The overall results provided important information for the potential application of the 8-hydroxylated alkaloids from Chelidonium majus in the therapy of serious infection caused by drug-resistant fungi. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.