Antifungal activity and mechanism of action of natural product derivates as potential environmental disinfectants.

Abstract

There have been a considerable number of antifungal studies that evaluated natural products, such as medicinal plants, and their secondary metabolites, (phenolic compounds, alkaloids), essential oils, as well as propolis extracts. These studies have investigated natural antifungal substances for use as food preservatives, medicinal agents, or in agriculture as green pesticides because they represent an option of safe, low impact and environmentally friendly antifungal compounds, however, few have studied these natural products as an alternative to disinfection/sanitation for indoor air or environmental surfaces. This review summarizes recent studies on natural products as potential fungal disinfectants in different environments and information of the mechanisms of inactivation of these products on fungi. The explored mechanisms show that these natural products can interfere with ATP synthesis and Ca++ and K+ ion flow, mainly damaging the cell membrane and cell wall of fungi respectively, another mechanism is the ROS effect that damages mitochondria and membranes. Inhibition of the overexpression of the efflux pump is another mechanism that involves damage to fungal proteins. Many natural products appear to have potential as indoor environmental disinfectants.