Introduction: Dermatophytes are a group of keratinophilic fungi with the ability to invade and parasitize the non-living cornified layer of the skin, where they are localized to the stratum corneum. In this study, in vitro activities of two known antifungal drugs, terbinafine (TBF) and griseofulvin (GR), were tested against reference and native dermatophyte strains.

Methods: Agar dilution method was used for determining the anti-dermatophyte activities of the two compounds. The fungi were cultured on sabouraud dextrose agar in presence of different concentrations of the selected compounds.

Results: All compounds inhibited the growth of all examined fungi in a dose-dependent manner. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of TBF and GR were determined in the range of 0.005- 0.163 g/ml and 0.78-12.5 g/ml for all tested dermatophytes, respectively. The MFC values of above compounds were measured as 0.33 g/l, 25-200 g/ml, accordingly.

Conclusion: TBF showed the highest antifungal activites against Microsporum canis MC-1 and Microsporum gypseum PTCC 5069, where as GR exerted extreme point activity against Microsporum canis MC-1 and Epidermophyton fluccosum EF-1. Terbinafine was shown to be fungicidal at a concentration of 0.165 g/ml and have suitable antifungal activities in very low concentrations as compared with GR, against T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, M. gypseum and E. fluccosum.

Hakim Research Journal 20069(1): 28-33.