Efficacy of modified Leeming-Notman media in a resazurin microtiter assay in the evaluation of in-vitro activity of fluconazole against Malassezia furfur ATCC 14521.

BACKGROUND:Malassezia furfur is lipodependent yeast like fungus that causes superficial mycoses such as pityriasis versicolor and dandruff. Nevertheless, there are no standard reference methods to perform susceptibility test of Malassezia species yet. AIMS:Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the optimized culture medium for growth of this lipophilic yeast using modified leeming-Notman agar and colorimetric resazurin microtiter assay to assess antimycotic activity of fluconazole against M. furfur. RESULTS:The result showed that these assays were more adjustable for M. furfur with reliable and reproducible MIC end-point, by confirming antimycotic activity of fluconazole with MIC of 2μg/ml. CONCLUSION:We conclude that this method is considered as the rapid and effective susceptibility testing of M. furfur with fluconazole antifungal activity.