SUNIL KUMARI AND SHWETA YADAV
Zoology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Dyal Singh College, Karnal-132 001 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : syadavzoo@gmail.com; Mobile : 9996169363)
(Received : October 03, 2019; Accepted : December 10, 2019)
ABSTRACT
The present work aimed at assessing the antifungal properties of fish epidermal mucus of fresh water fish species viz., Catla catla, Cyperinus carpio and Heteropneustes fossilis against seven pathogenic fungal strains : Aspergillus niger, A. clavatus, A. flavus, Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C. auris and Mucor ramosissimus. Disk diffusion method was used to analyze the antifungal action of acidic and organic mucus extracts of all selected fishes. Zone of inhibition (ZOI) was also recorded to compare the antifungal effect of these fishes and antibiotic fluconazole against the fungal pathogens. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was calculated for each pathogenic fungal strain. A potent antifungal effect has been noticed in both acidic and organic mucus extracts of all experimental fishes, even higher than fluconazole
in some cases. These results support the presence of antifungal components in fish epidermal mucus, which could be used as an alternative to commercial antibiotics in human as well as animals.
Key words : Antifungal effect, epidermal mucus, fish, fungal pathogen, MIC