IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS POTENCIES OF HOMEOPATHIC DRUG THUJA AGAINST MOLDS INVOLVED IN MYCOTIC KERATITIS
Keywords:
Mycotic keratitis, Fungal isolates, Homeopathy, Thuja occidentalis potencies and Growth inhibitionAbstract
Objective: Isolation and characterisation of clinically isolated fungi from mycotic keratitis and exploration of the in vitro efficacy of various potencies of homeopathic preparations of Thuja occidentalis on the ocular fungal isolates.
Methods: Clinical samples were collected from fungal keratitis patients attending a tertiary eye care hospital in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu state, India. The scrapings were also subjected to Gram staining and 10% KOH mount to detect the presence of fungal hyphae. The fungal isolates were subjected to lacto phenol cotton blue (LCB) mount employing cello tape flag method. Homeopathic drug Thuja occidentalis with various potencies viz., Q, 30 C, 200 C, 1 M, 10 M and 50 M were investigated for the growth inhibition of various fungal isolates by plate assay method. Further, a follow up analyses with varying dilutions of Q and 10 M homeopathic potencies of Thuja was carried out for the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration of both microdilution and minimum fungicidal concentration for the Biopolaris isolates.
Results: Out of 35 samples analysed, Fusarium spp. (n=5), Aspergillus flavus (n=6), Bipolaris spp. (n=3), Exserohilum spp. (n=3) and Curvularia spp (n=3) were identified. All the potencies of Thuja had good inhibitory activity against Bipolaris spp., followed by Curvularia spp., Exserohilum spp. and Aspergillus flavus. Statistical analysis revealed significant inhibition of all the test isolates by Thuja Q and 50 M. Significant growth inhibition was exhibited by Thuja 30, 200 C, I M for Bipolaris, Exserohilum & A. flavus isolate and Thuja 10 M for all the isolates tested except Fusaria. It was revealed that for the Biopolaris isolates BS1, BS2, BS3 Thuja 10 M and Thuja Q had MIC and MFC of 0.125/10[20,00]0& 0.0625/10 and 0.25/10[20][00]0 & 0.125/10, respectively.
Conclusion: The present investigation concludes that homeopathic drug Thuja has good inhibitory activity against the fungi causing keratitis, irrespective of the potencies. It is evident that no definite co-relation exists between various potencies of the same homeopathic drug with regard to their antimycotic properties.
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