CAPSAICIN, A UNIQUE ANTIOXIDANT, ANTIINFLAMMATORY, ANALGESIC COMPOUNDWITH ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AGAINST DERMATOPHYTES

An extract of chilli has been used for many years in folk medicine as a treatment for localised skin inflammation, sprains and painful joint s. Our laboratory data have shown that the biological activity of chil li is attributable to its pungent principle, capsaicin, which has anti -inflammatory, analgesic and anti-oxidant properties. In the present s tudy, determinations of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIG) values of capsaicin for different dermatophytes and yeast pathogens showed it to have moderate antifungal activity.