Screening of Heartwood of Tectona Grandis Linn for Antifungal Activity

Abstract

AB S T R A C T Medicinal plants have always been a subject of interest for the human being from ancient times due to health benefits. Researchers found that people in different regions of the world used the same or similar plants for health benefits. Medicinal plant research includes many fields like drug discovery, ethnobotany, traditional and indigenous medicines. During the corona pandemic, we realised that there are no effective therapies available for new and remerging infectious diseases. Public health is badly affected due to drug- resistant microorganisms and the appearance of new disease- causing microbes. Due to the increasing side effects of synthetic drugs and uncontrolled infectious diseases, researchers have taken interest in natural sources of medicines and have screened a large number of plants for new bioactive compounds. Natural products have been a well-known source of various molecules in the process of drug discovery and many bioactive natural product derivatives. Stereochemical and structural properties of natural products are characteristics that are responsible for exploring novel molecular diversity. One of the successful strategies for the investigation of new medicinal agents from plants includes the screening of plant extract, fractions followed by the purification of the constituents. Several plants and their products have been evaluated for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. In the present study, the ethanolic extract of the heartwood of Tectona grandis Linn. was screened for antifungal activity