Antifungal Properties of Essential Oils and Their Compounds for Application in Skin Fungal Infections: Conventional and Nonconventional Approaches.

Aswir Abd Rashed,Devi-Nair Gunasegavan Rathi,Ahmad Zuhairi Abd Rahman,Nor Atikah Husna Ahmad Nasir

doi:10.3390/molecules26041093

Aswir Abd Rashed, Devi-Nair Gunasegavan Rathi + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26041093

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Abstract

Essential oils (EOs) are known to have varying degrees of antimicrobial properties that are mainly due to the presence of bioactive compounds. These include antiviral, nematicidal, antifungal, insecticidal and antioxidant properties. This review highlights the potential of EOs and their compounds for application as antifungal agents for the treatment of skin diseases via conventional and nonconventional approaches. A search was conducted using three databases (Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar), and all relevant articles from the period of 2010–2020 that are freely available in English were extracted. In our findings, EOs with a high percentage of monoterpenes showed strong ability as potential antifungal agents. Lavandula sp., Salvia sp., Thymus sp., Citrus sp., and Cymbopogon sp. were among the various species found to show excellent antifungal properties against various skin diseases. Some researchers developed advanced formulations such as gel, semi-solid, and ointment bases to further evaluate the effectiveness of EOs as antifungal agents. To date, most studies on the application of EOs as antifungal agents were performed using in vitro techniques, and only a limited number pursued in vivo and intervention-based research.

Highlights

Fungi are ubiquitous environmental microorganisms that may be categorized, according to their dimorphic morphology, as unicellular or filamentous
Upon conducting a thorough review, these 41 articles were classified into three categories: 32 articles were categorized as in vitro research, 7 as combination of in vitro and in vivo research and 2 articles as clinical interventions
5 in vitro studies and 3 combination studies were classified as descriptions of nonconventional technology (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Fungi are ubiquitous environmental microorganisms that may be categorized, according to their dimorphic morphology, as unicellular (yeast) or filamentous (molds). Almost one million mycotic species have been reported to exist in nature, with approximately 200 species identified as human pathogenic [1]. It has been found in recent years that fungal infections have contributed to increased mortality rates [2]. This phenomenon has been linked to certain age groups, especially premature neonates, infants and elderly people who are susceptible to underdeveloped or poor immune systems [3,4,5]. Has been shown to cause opportunistic invasive fungal infections [5,7] Fusarium sp. has been shown to cause opportunistic invasive fungal infections [5,7]

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