ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Conny Riana Tjampakasari1,2 , Mardiastuti Wahid1,2, Yeva Rosana1,2 and Ika Ningsih1,2
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
2Research Cluster on the Diagnosis and Therapy of Fungal Infections, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Article Number: 11862 | © The Author(s). 2026
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2026;20(3):2708-2720. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.20.3.63
Received: 30 June 2026 | Accepted: 18 August 2026 | Published online: 04 September 2026
Issue online: September 2026
Abstract

Candida krusei is a non-albicans Candida species that has been reported to exhibit intrinsic resistance to several antifungal agents, making infections caused by this organism challenging to control and highlighting the need for effective antiseptic alternatives. The exploration of plants with antifungal activity became an important area of research because of the increasing demand for effective and safe natural antiseptic alternatives. In this study, we evaluated the potential of extracts of Moringa oleifera and Centella asiatica extracts as antiseptic agents, either individually or in combination, against C. krusei. The antifungal activity of the extracts was evaluated using a time-kill assay at different concentrations. Fungal viability was assessed at 1, 2, and 5 minutes after exposure and expressed as the percentage of fungal killing. The antifungal activities of the individual and combined extracts were compared at each contact time. Both M. oleifera and C. asiatica extracts exhibited concentration- and time-dependent fungicidal activity against C. krusei. The C. asiatica extract showed greater antifungal activity than the M. oleifera extract at the tested concentrations. The combination of M. oleifera (300 mg/mL) and C. asiatica (250 mg/mL) extracts showed rapid fungicidal activity against C. krusei, with killing rates of 80.0% at 1 minute, 90.0% at 2 minutes, and 97.0% at 5 minutes. Phytochemical analysis showed that C. asiatica had higher total phenolic and flavonoid contents than M. oleifera. The total phenolic content was approximately 16.6 mg GAE/g for M. oleifera and 22.1 mg GAE/g for C. asiatica, while the total flavonoid content was approximately 1.6 mg QE/g and 6.6 mg QE/g, respectively. The individual and combined extracts demonstrated rapid fungicidal activity against C. krusei in vitro, with the combined extracts showing greater killing activity than the individual extracts at the tested concentrations. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms of action, determine the optimal formulation, and evaluate the safety and efficacy of these extracts for antiseptic applications.

Keywords

C. krusei, M. oleifera, C. asiatica, Natural antiseptic, Time-kill Assay

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© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.