1991 Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 343-346
An in vitro assay method of anti-Malassezia activity of terbinafine, a new allylamine antimycotic, was examined with clotrimazole as a reference drug using several kinds of media supplemented with different amounts of lipids.
M. furfur did not grow in a lipid-free medium, but grew well in a medium supplemented with glycerol monostearate and Tween 80. Moreover, supplementation of olive oil (0.25 2 %) enhanced the growth of M. furfur. The MIC values of terbinafine against M. furfur greatly depended on the concentration of olive oil added, although the dependency was not limited to Malassezia. On the other hand, M. pachydermatis which does not require lipids for growth proliferated well even in a lipid-free medium, and the MIC values were much smaller than those for M. furfur. Terbinafine's antifungal activity against M. furfur is thus definitely positive and this suggests its therapeutic effectiveness on tinea versicolor.
