Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AND METABOLOMIC PROFILING OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF HELMINTHOSTACHYS ZEYLANICA (L.) USING UNTARGETED LC-HRMS ANALYSIS

YUANA NURULITA 1, MONIK KERRY ARMY 2, YULI HARYANI 1, HILWAN YUDA TERUNA 1 , ARI SATIA NUGRAHA 3, FAUZAN ZEIN MUTTAQIN 4, RUDI HENDRA 1*

1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru, Indonesia
2 National Agency of Drug and Food Control, Jakarta, Indonesia
3 Drug Utilisation and Discovery Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jember, Jember, Indonesia
4 Faculty of Pharmacy, Bhakti Kencana University, Bandung, Indonesia

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Fungal infections caused by Candida species pose serious global health challenges due to increasing resistance to existing antifungal agents. Helminthostachys zeylanica (L.) is a traditionally used medicinal plant with underexplored antifungal potential. This study provides the first comprehensive antifungal metabolomic analysis of H. zeylanica using untargeted LC- HRMS. Antifungal activity against C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. krusei was evaluated using disc diffusion, minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal fungicidal concentration assays. The extract of the leaf had the best antifungal activity particularly against C. krusei and C. albicans. Metabolomic profiling revealed flavonoids (such as rutin, isosakuranetin and eriodictyol), loliolide, as the important bioactive metabolites. Multivariate analysis (PCA and PLS-DA) substantiated their association with antifungal activity. These results highlight the potential of H. zeylanica, particularly its leaves, as a source of natural antifungal agents, thereby advancing phytopharmaceutical development and efforts to address antifungal resistance. Further research should examine compound isolation, in vivo efficacy and formulation techniques.