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In the last decades, the number of people suffering from dermatophytoses has seriously increased, which may be due to the development of resistant strains to a range of antifungal drugs. The present study was aimed to evaluate the antidermatophytic properties of eight extracts from the selected spices and herbs, which were ethno-medicinally used in Iran against Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton interdigitale, Microsporum canis, and Microsporum gypseum (10 strain of each). The in vitro antifungal activities of the extracts from four spices and four plants were evaluated by the broth macro dilution method against four dermatophyte strains. In addition, the in vivo therapeutic effects of Myrtus communis L. and Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume extracts (the most active extracts) on dermatophytosis induced by M. canis and T. mentagrophytes in guinea pigs were evaluated. Results of in vitro antifungal assay revealed that all the tested extracts demonstrated both fungistatic and fungicidal activities with the geometric mean (GM) MIC ranging from 0.058 to 3.73 mg/ml and GM (MFC) ranging from 0.058 to 7.46 mg/ml, respectively. Two extracts (M. communis and C. zeylanicum) significantly inhibited the growth of all the tested dermatophytes, while other extracts demonstrated weak (MICs of >0.625 mg/ml) to moderate (MICs ranging from 100 to 0.625 mg/ml) activities. In vivo antidermatophytic assay demonstrated that clotrimazole cured T. mentagrophytes and M. canis infection on days 21 and 17, respectively, whereas M. communis and C. zeylanicum extracts significantly (p < 0.05) cured T. mentagrophytes and M. canis infection on days 9 and 13 as well as 9, 11, respectively. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, phenols, and alkaloids in M. communis and alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins in C. zeylanicum. Findings of the present study also provided the scientific evidence that natural plants could be used in traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of dermatophytic infections., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: Plant extracts and plant-derived compounds are valuable sources as folk medicine for the treatment and prevention of a wide range of diseases including infectious diseases. In the present study, the antifungal activities of the essential oil and various extracts Nigella sativa and its active principle, thymoquinone against Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum canis and Microsporum gypseum as pathogenic dermatophyte strains have been evaluated. In addition, the cytotoxic effects of N. sativa against murine macrophage cells were determined., Materials and Methods: In this study, the antifungal activity was studied by disk diffusion method and assessment of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of extracts using broth macrodilution method. In addition, the cytotoxic activity of N. sativa was evaluated by colorimetric assay (MTT). The components of the N. sativa essential oil were also identified by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis., Results: The results showed that the essential oil and various extracts of N. sativa particularly thymoquinone have potent antifungal effects on T. mentagrophytes, M. canis and M. gypseum as pathogenic dermatophyte strains. In the assessment of the cytotoxicity activity, it could be observed that N. sativa had no significant cytotoxicity in the murine macrophages at low concentrations. While, thymoquinone in comparison with essential oil and various extracts of N. sativa showed higher cytotoxicity on murine macrophage cells. In the GC/MS analysis, thymoquinone (42.4%), p-cymene (14.1%), carvacrol (10.3%) and longifolene (6.1%) were found to be the major components of N. sativa essential oil., Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest a first step in the search of new antidermatophytic drugs and aid the use of N. sativa seeds in the traditional medicine for dermatophytic infections., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)