In Vitro Antioxidant and Antibacterial Studies of Fungal Pigment Extracts from Parambikulam Tiger Reserve

The most potent pigments producing fungal species were isolated such as Fusarium sp., T. spirale, T. longibracheatum, C. aureum and P. purpurogenum from soil samples of parambikulam tiger reserve, India. The antioxidant assays viz. DPPH, iron reducing and metal chelating assays were carried out with five different extracellular fungal pigment extracts. A steady increase in the antioxidant activities was observed in all five tested pigments producing species with raising the pigment concentrations. In vitro antibacterial activities of five different fungal pigment extracts studied against six human pathogenic bacterial strains. The extracellular pigments of P. purpurogenum and C. aureum was found to be more effective against P. aeruginosa and E. coli and might have a potential role in pharmaceutical drug industry.