Antidermatophyte Activity of the Essential oil of Hypericum perforatum of North of Iran

Background: dermatophytes are the main cause of human superficial mycosis that is still apublic health problem especially in tropical countries such as iran.objective: the aim of this study was determining the antifungal effect of hypercom perforatumessential oil.methods: the minimum inhibitory concentration (mic) and minimum fungicidal concentration(mfc) for the essential oil of the plant hypericum perforatum against various dermatophyteswere determined. the essential oil of hypericum perforatum was obtained by hydro distillation ofthe dried plant. clinical isolates of dermatophytes (epidermophyton floccosum, microsporumcanis, microsporum gypseum, t. mentagrophytes var. interdigital, t. mentagrophytes var.mentagrophytes., t. rubrum and trichophyton tonsurans) were used for determining antifungalactivity of this essential oil by in vitro tube dilution technique.results: mic90 and mfc90 values were remarkable. t. mentagrophytes var. interdigital showeda>1 log10 difference in viable count between treatment and control within the first hour, wherease. floccosum did not. the essential oil of h. perforatum sufficiently inhibited and killed all testeddermatophytes in all different dilutions. the changes in growth curve of the treateddermatophytes were significant compared with the untreated dermatophytes.conclusion: terpinen-4-ol is the main component of the essential oil of h. perforatum, andperhaps could play the important role in antidermatophyte activity among the other components.it is suggested trying the in-vivo effects of hypericum perforatum ointment or its other medicinalforms in the treatment and controlling of dermatophytes infections.