Assessment of antifungal activity of castor (ricinus communis) seed oil against dandruff causing fungi, malassezia furfur.

Abstract

Dandruff is a common skin condition that mainly affects the areas rich in Sebaceous glands and has been mostly associated with the yeast Malassezia species according to Pierard-Franchimont, Xhauflaire-Uhoda, and Pierard (2006), the most common one being M. furfur a lipophilic fungus. Castor oil from Ricinuscommunis has been studied for antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungi for example Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Candida albicansand Candida glabrata (Poonam & Krishan, 2007). The main objective of this study was to assess whether castor oil has antifungal activity against Malasseziafurfur. Methods: Dandruff-like scrapings were obtained from my sister in Mpererwe and used to isolate pure M. furfur. Standard methods for media preparation and test procedure as per (Zoya et al., 2016), and preparation of castor oil samples as per (Nangbes, Nvau, Buba, & Zukdimma, 2013), were used in this research. Results: castor oil showed no antifungal activity against the fungus at all concentrations studied. Conclusion: Castor oil is not added in hair products for anti-dandruff purposes.