In vitro ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ERYSOVINE

Abstract

Several alkaloids of the Erythrina genus display pharmacological activity which seem to be associated with the tertiary amine spiroamine. E. americana synthesizes erysovine, a toxic alkaloid with a LD50 of 25.23 mg kg^-1 against ‘Winstar’ rats, and has not been tested as an biocide agent on microorganisms. In this study the antimicotic activity of erysovine, isolated from mature seeds of E. americana was evaluated against phythopathogen fungi: Alternaria solani, Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum, Monilia fructicola, Penicillium sp. and Trichoderma harzianum, using the paper disc diffusion method. B. cinerea, F. oxysporum and M. fructicola displayed greater susceptibility when exposed to at a dose of 8 mg mL^-1 of erysovine which inhibited mycelium by 88, 57 and 43 %, a higher inhibition than that produced by dimethil sulfoxide used as control. In A. solani, Penicillium sp. and T. harzianum the inhibition of mycelium growth was only 27 % above the control.