Virologie & Mycologie
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Comparative Study of Keratinolytic Activities of Dermatophytes in Various Keratin Substrates

Raheem Ademola RR, Omolade Olabowale A, Folorunso Jamiu B, Oluwadun A and Onilude AA

Objective: Keratinolytic activities of dermatophytes have been a subject of interest to understand the pathogenicity of infection. In this study, we intend to elucidate the keratinase activity profile among the Trichophyton (T), Microsporum (M) and Epidermophyton (E). Methods: 343 clinical isolates of dermatophytesviz; T. mentagrophytes (228), T. rubrum (58), T. shoeleinni (36) M. audouinii (14) and E. floccosum (7) grown on Sabouraud Dextrose broth were inoculated on mineral medium consist of human hair, horse hair, cow hair, chicken feather and fowl scales individually. The keratinolytic activity was measured spectrophotometrically at 660 nm following Folin-Ciocalteu method. Results: The keratinolytic activities of T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, T. schoeleinii and M. audouinni of Mean ± SEM viz; 4.89 ± 5.77, 4.51 ± 2.51, 4.57 ± 8.81 and 4.67 + 8.81, respectively were significantly increased in feather except, E. floccosum with an expression of 1.50 ± 2.08 which was significantly low when compared with other keratin P<0.05. There was a significant decrease in keratinolytic activities of all the dermatophytes in fowl scales P<0.05. Conclusion: We concluded that the pathogenicity potential of dermatophytes depends on its keratinolytic activities and the structure of the keratin material.