The treatment of fungal infection poses particular challenge for the medical field. Thus, the development of antifungal agents has only been progressed slowly, partly due to the considerably high toxicity of the agents. We have previously demonstrated the antifungal effect of the skin extract from Duttaphrynus melanostictus frog. In the current study, the antifungal effect was particularly investigated in the lyophilisate of granular gland secretion of the frog skin against the pathogenic fungi Candida albicans, Mycrosporum gypseum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Antifungal test of the lyophilisate was performed by agar diffusion method, while the study of its mechanism of action was carried out under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The lyophilisate was shown to be equipotent against all test fungi in vitro. Mean while, SEM assay revealed that the lyophilisate induced detrimental effect on cellular membrane integrity as indicated by the formation of pores in all test fungi and the shrinkage of hyphal and microconidial structures in M. gypseum and T. mentagrophytes, possibly due to the leakage of essential intracellular components. The results open an opportunity for developing effective alternative antifungal agents, particularly in the face of the emergence of dug-resistant fungi. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.

Antifungal,Duttaphrynus melanostictus,Frog,Fungal morphology,Granular gland,Lyophilisate

https://doi.org/10.3923/jbs.2011.282.287