Antifungal studies of some essential oils at various pH levels for betterment of antifungal drug response

Antifungal evaluation of the stored essential oil of some Eucalyptus specie s, viz, E. amygdalina, E. citriodora, E. dalrympleana and E. laveopinea was tested against dermatophyte, viz. Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporum gy pseum, M. nanum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T, rubrum and T, violaceum. T he efficacy of the oils increased for inhibiting the mycelial growth of tes t orgainsms by adjusting the pH of the media to 4, 7 and 9 from their norma l pH of 5.6. The enhancement in the efficacy of various oils recorded as pe rcentage changed in minimum fungistatic and minimum fungicidal concentratio ns. The minimum fungistatic and fungicidal concentrations decreased in the range from 12.5 to 80.0% and 11.1 to 75.0%, respectively against all the te st organisms, except for the oil of E. citriodora which showed an increase of 25% in the minimum fungistatic concentration against T, rubrum and T. me ntagrophytes. These oils at normal and alkaline pH inhibited heavy doses of inoculum potential. Moreover, oils did not show any adverse effect on mamm alian skin up to 5% concentration at normal and alkaline pH.