The safety and efficacy of a drug is based on its metabolism or metabolite formed. The metabolism of drugs can be studied by different in vitro models, among which microbial model became popular. In the present study, eight microbes were screened for their ability to metabolize phenobarbital in a manner comparable to humans with a model to develop alternative systems to study human drug metabolism. Among the different microbes screened, a filamentous fungi Rhizopus stolonifer metabolized phenobarbital to its metabolite which is used for further pharmacological and toxicological studies. The transformation of phenobarbital was identified by high- performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Interestingly, Rhizopus stolonifer sample showed an extra metabolite peak at 3.11min. compared to its controls. The influence of different carbon sources in media used for growth of fungus, on metabolite production was studied, to find its effect in production of metabolite as the carbon source may influence the growth of the cell.
