dorema kopetdaghense pimenov: a potent antifungal medicinal plant

Background and purpose: dorema species are well-known antifungal medicinal plants. dorema kopetdaghense (apiaceae family) is a rarely investigated plant endemic to iran. the present study aimed to assess the antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of root extracts of different plants.materials and methods: the methanolic crude extract (meoh) and its sub-fractions, including petroleum ether (pe), dichloromethane (dcm), ethyl acetate (etoac), and nbutanol (n-buoh) were prepared. results: results from the antifungal and antibacterial activities of fractions indicated remarkable antifungal effects against candida albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values of 10 µg/ml; however, no cytotoxicity was observed in the case of selected cancer cells. moreover, methanolic soluble fractions showed good antiradical effects evaluated via dpph and β-carotene bleaching tests possessing half-maximal inhibitory concentration (ic50) of 20.11 and 41.32 µg/ml, respectively, though it was less effective than positive controls ascorbic acid (8.47 and 31.71 µg/ml, respectively) and butylated hydroxytoluene (ic50: 10.29 and 33.55 µg/ml, respectively). conclusion: it can be concluded that strong antifungal and antioxidant activities without notable cytotoxicity, suggest the potential safety of the plant to be used as a natural antifungal remedy as well as a preservative in the food industry.