The antifungal activity of unripe grape extracts from agro-industrial wastes has been evaluated against several strains of Candida spp. and dermatophytes. All the extracts tested showed antifungal activity. The geometric mean MIC ranged from 53.58 to 214.31 μg/mL for Candida spp. and from 43.54 to 133.02 μg/mL for dermatophytes. The chemical analyses have been carried out using Liquid Chromatograph equipped with a DAD and MS detectors. Flavan-3-ols were the main metabolites within all samples ranged from 3.3 to 6.8 mg/g fresh weight. For Candida spp. highest negative significant correlation has been found between MICs and polymeric flavan-3-ols (r = -0.842; p < 0.001) and for dermatophytes between MICs and caffeoyl derivatives (r = -0.962; p < 0.01). The results indicate that total extracts obtained from unripe grapes, a large source of waste material derived from the wine industry, could be used as a cheap source of value-added products.
Keywords: antifungal activity; flavan-3-ols; unripe grapes; waste material from cluster thinning.