In this presentation, we discuss about how Corynebacterium minutissimum bacteria causes a skin infection called Erythrasma. Additionally, we present some data on how it can be prevented or cured using anti-microbial drugs extracted from plant source.

1. ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AGAINST ERYTHRASMA
INDUCING BACTERIA
SUBMITTED BY:
S.L.LASHMAN (17150220)
(B.Pharm VIII Sem “B” section)
UNDER SUPERVISION OF:
Dr. VIJAYALAKSHMI, M. Pharm, Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacognosy
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences

2. INTRODUCTION
Medicinal plants have been used since ancient times for treating various kinds of diseases and skin
infections. The traditional systems of medicine mainly use the plants for the treatment of diseases.
Treatments using medicinal plants have gained acceptance among the people worldwide despite its slow
onset of action and this is mostly due to the decreased toxicity levels of these plants. The traditional system
of medicine has gained popularity in the recent years.
ERYTHRASMA:
Erythrasma is a frequent, persistent superficial skin infection become disorder when it not treated1. It
habitually occurs in skin folds. It is a customary skin disorder caused by the infection of bacteria that affects
the skin2. Typical cause of Erythrasma present in the macerated, flaking (crusty) or peeling plaques between
the toes, groins, armpit or skinny and threadlike plaques in intertriginous areas. It is habitually asymptomatic.
Today Erythrasma is renowned to be caused by Corynebacterium minutissimum, a lipophilic and filamentous
gram-positive, catalase-positive, non-spore forming bacteria.
Types of Erythrasma:
• Interdigital Erythrasma: Common bacterial infection and normally does not show any early symptoms.
• Generalized or Disc form Erythrasma: Common thing seen in diabetes mellitus type 2 lesions go beyond
the areas leads to itching and chafing of skin together.
• Intertriginous: Mildly pruritic or asymptomatic. It occurs as patches or plaques in intertriginous areas and
results in a "cigarette paper" appearance of the skin.

3. DIAGNOSIS:
Erythrasma can often be diagnosed by the appearance of the characteristic brows patch with fine scaling
helps distinguish it forms fungal infection like tinea curies (jock itches) which are more reddish and have
thicker scaling along the edges Erythrasma can be diagnosed using wood’s lamp. Wood’s lamp is a high
pressure mercury lamp with a special filter that allows the emission of a largely monochromatic UV light with
A wavelength of 365 nm. In the assessment of pigmentary disorders for examination the room has to be
completely darkened and the patient should be totally undressed.
Causes:
C. minutissimum is considered a relatively harmless bacterium that the immune system is usually able to
control. It will only cause infection if the right conditions provide the bacteria the opportunity to thrive. It may
be because a skin fold offers just the right environment for bacterial colonization or the immune system is
suppressed and less able to control an infection
Causative factors includes:
• Live in a humid tropical or subtropical climate
• Sweat excessively (hyperhidrosis)
• Poor hygiene
• Old age
• HIV or other forms of immune suppression
• Consuming immune suppressive drugs to treat an autoimmune disorder or prevent organ rejection
• Obesity
• Diabetes

4. Treatment:
• The primary treatment of Erythrasma begins with the use of antibacterial soap to resolve a mild infection.
• If the infection is more widespread, a topical antibiotic such as fusidin, miconazole cream, clindamycin and
Whitfield's ointment (benzoic acid and salicylic acid) are used for one to two weeks with twice- daily
application.
• Serious infection may require oral antibiotics such as clarithromycin, erythromycin, tetracycline and
chloramphenicol17. Complications of Erythrasma are only in rare cases, it cause septicemia which is a
serious blood infection may develop when disease persists.

5. AIM AND OBJECTIVE
Erythrasma is a cutaneous superficial skin infection that is identified by the brown scaly patches caused by
the bacterium Corynebacterium minutissimum. The rash of Erythrasma is commonly found in intertriginous
areas that include axillae, inframammary areas, the interspaces of toes, and intergluteal and curial folds. Once
the diagnosis is confirmed, systemic antibacterial therapy with erythromycin is usually prescribed as first-line
therapy.
Herbals traditional medicines have high potential to cure different kinds of skin disease. More than 80% of
people in India depend on traditional health care and use different plant based products for curing skin related
problems. Compared with the conventional allopathic drugs, they have relatively low cost and can be of with
great benefit to the population of India in general and poor people in particular. Hence, the present study aims
to screen the selected medicinal plants Cyperus rotundus rhizome, Michelia champaca flower bud and
Clerodendrum inerme leaves for the treatment of Erythrasma.
The objectives of the present study is to:
• To collect and extract the phytoconstituents from the selected medicinal plants.
• To carry out preliminary phytochemical analysis and the prepared extract will be subjected to TLC and HPTLC
analysis.
• To evaluate antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extracts against the microorganism Corynebacterium
minutissimum, a causative organism of Erythrasma.

6. PLAN OF WORK
 Collection and authentication of the selected plants
 Phytochemical Studies
• Extraction
• Preliminary Chemical Analysis
• Thin layer chromatography (TLC)
• High Performance Thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)
 Antimicrobial activity of the selected plant extracts.
• Disc diffusion method
• Well diffusion method

7. Cyperus rotundus
Tuber
Michelia champaca
Flower
Clerodendrum inerme
leaves

8. Collection and Authentication:
The plant specimen for the proposed study viz., tuber of Cyperus rotundus Linn, Michelia champaca flower
bud and Clerodendrum inerme leaves were purchased from commercial source, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and
authenticated by Dr. P. Jayaraman, Director, Plant Anatomy Research Centre, (PARC) Tambaram and Chennai.
Registration number of certificate PARC/2020/4211, PARC/2020/4212, PARC/2020/4210 respectively.
Process of Extraction:
The percentage yield values of ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundus, Michelia champaca and Clerodendrum
inerme are tabulated in Table 1.
Table 1: Percentage Yield of the ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundus, Michelia champaca
and Clerodendrum inerme

9. Preliminary Chemical Analysis:
The qualitative phytochemical analysis of Michelia champaca, Cyperus rotundus and Clerodendrum inerme
revealed the presence of several secondary metabolites which are tabulated in Table 2.
Table 2: Qualitative Phytochemical analysis of the ethanol extract of Michelia
champaca, Cyperus rotundus and Clerodendrum inerme
Note: + ve indicates presence, whereas – ve indicates absence

10. Thin Layer Chromatography:
The TLC studies of the ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundus, Michelia champaca and Clerodendrum inerme are shown
in Table 3.
Table 3: Thin Layer Chromatography of the ethanolic extract of Cyperus rotundus,
Michelia champaca and Clerodendrum inerme
Test Extract Solvent System No. of Spots Rf values Detecting Agent
Cyperus rotundus Chloroform:
Methanol
(6:4)
3 0.18
0.72
0.76
Iodine
Vapours
Michelia champaca Chloroform:
Methanol
(6:4)
3 0.16
0.26
0.34
Iodine
Vapours
Clerodendrum
inerme
Chloroform:
Methanol
(6:4)
3 0.42
0.44
0.48
Iodine
Vapours

11. High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography:
The Rf value of the phytoconstituents of the ethanol extract of Michelia champaca flower, Cyperus rotundus
tuber and Clerodendrum inerme leaves were shown in Table 4 and HPTLC chromatogram in Fig. 4-6.
Table 4: The Rf value of the Phytoconstituents of the ethanol extract of Michelia champaca,
Cyperus rotundus and Clerodendrum inerme
Detecting
Wavelength
Clerodendrum inerme
leaves
Cyperus rotundus
tuber
Michelia champaca
flower
No. of
Spots
Rf
Values
No. of
Spots
Rf
Values
No. of
Spots
Rf
Values
254 7
0.30
0.40
0.57
0.61
0.65
0.72
0.86
9
0.61
0.65
0.67
0.71
0.74
0.76
0.80
0.82
0.85
6
0.42
0.50
0.57
0.69
0.76
0.86

12. Figure 4: HPTLC Chromatogram of
Cyperus rotundus tuber
Figure 5: HPTLC Chromatogram of
Michelia champaca flower
Figure 6: HPTLC Chromatogram of
Clerodendrum inerme leaves

13. Antimicrobial activity:
Disc Diffusion Method
The antibacterial activity of the plant extracts studied was compared with standard antibiotics. The
antibacterial activity of the flower, leaf and root samples were tested against Corynebacterium minutissimum.
Table 5: The antibacterial activity of the flower, leaf and root samples against Corynebacterium
minutissimum by Disc Diffusion Method

14. Well Diffusion Method:
The antibacterial activity of the test samples showed an antibacterial activity towards the tested bacterial strain
(Tables 6).
Table 6: Antibacterial activity of test samples against Corynebacterium minutissimum by
well diffusion Method

15. CONCLUSION
Erythrasma is a superficial skin infection come disorder that causes brown scaly patches in the skin folds.
Corynebacterium minutissimum is the causative organism of Erythrasma. The plants are a reliable source of
medicine since the side effects produced by the herbal medicines are less compared to that of allopathic
medicines. The plants like Cyperus rotundus, Magnolia champaca and Clerodendrum inerme have a wide
therapeutic value and are potent antibacterial agents.
In this study we evaluated the antibacterial activity of the ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus rhizome,
Magnolia champaca flower, Clerodendrum inerme leaves. Among the tested plants, Cyperus rotundus rhizome
and Clerodendrum inerme leaves displayed a potent antibacterial activity with maximum zone of growth
inhibition when compared with standard. The study thus reveals the effectiveness of the tested plant extracts
against Corynebacterium minutissimum, The causative organism of erythrasma. They can be used as potential
source for the development of a phytomedicine to combat the skin disease erythrasma caused by bacterial
infections.

16. REFERENCE
1. Blaise G, Nikkels AF, Hermann's-Le T, Nikkels-Tassoudji N, Pierard GE. Corynebacterium associated skin
infections. Int J Dermatol. 2008; (47): 884-890.
2. Wilson BB, Waenseller A, Noland MB. An atypical presentation of erythrasma. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012; (67):
217-218.
3. Holdiness MR. Erythrasma and common bacterial skin infections. An Fam Physician. 2003;(67): 254.
4. Sarkany I, Taplin D, Blank H. Erythrasma- common bacterial infection of the ski. J Am Med Association.1961;
(177):130-132.
5. Tschen JA, Ramsdell WM. Disciform erythrasma Curis. 1983; (5): 541-542.
6. Montes, Leopoldo F, Black SH, McBride, Mollie E. Bacterial Invasion of the Seratum Corneum in Erythrasma J
Invest Dermatol. 1967; (5) 474-485.
7. Marks R Keio. Seeing through the stratum cornea. J Med 2000, 49 80
8. Aruna G, Praveen Kumar A, Munisekhar P. Review on Michelia champaca Linn. International Journal of
Phytopharmacy Research, 2012; 3(1): 32-4.
9. Swathi G, Monisha M., Bavithra P. S. and Arun P. “Biological activities of champaca (magnolia champaca) plant
– a review”. European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. (2019); 6(3): 443-449.