Natural product-based nanomedicine applied to fungal infection treatment: A review of the last 4 years.

Fungal infections are one of the main public health problems, especially in immunocompromised patients, nosocomial environments, patients with chronic diseases, and transplant recipients. These diseases are increasingly frequent and lethal because the microorganism has a high capacity to acquire resistance to available therapy. The main resistance factors are the emergence of new strains and the uncontrolled use of antifungals. It is, therefore, important to develop new methods that contribute to combating fungal diseases in the clinical area. Natural products have considerable potential for the development of new drugs with antifungal activity, mainly due to their biocompatibility and low toxic effect. This promising antimicrobial activity of natural products is mainly due to the presence of flavonoids, terpenes, and quinones, which explains their antifungal potential. Pharmaceutical nanotechnology has been explored to enhance the delivery, selectivity, and clinical efficacy of these products. Nanotechnological systems provide a safe and selective environment for various substances, such as natural products, improving antifungal activity. However, further safety experiments (in vivo or clinical trials) need to be carried out to prove the therapeutic action of natural products, since they may have undesirable, toxic, and mutagenic effects. Therefore, this review article addresses the main nanotechnological methods using natural products for effective future treatment against the main fungal diseases.

Self-Supported Biopolymeric Films Based on Onion Bulb (Allium cepa L.): Gamma-Radiation Effects in Sterilizing Doses.

Sterilization is a fundamental step to eliminate microorganisms prior to the application of products, especially in the food and medical industries. γ-irradiation is one of the most recommended and effective methods used for sterilization, but its effect on the properties and performance of bio-based polymers is negligible. This work is aimed at evaluating the influence of γ-radiation at doses of 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, and 40 kGy on the morphology, properties, and performance of bioplastic produced from onion bulb (Allium cepa L.), using two hydrothermal synthesis procedures. These procedures differ in whether the product is washed or not after bioplastic synthesis, and are referred to as the unwashed hydrothermally treated pulp (HTP) and washed hydrothermally treated pulp (W-HTP). The morphological analysis indicated that the film surfaces became progressively rougher and more irregular for doses above 25 kGy, which increases their hydrophobicity, especially for the W-HTP samples. In addition, the FTIR and XRD results indicated that irradiation changed the structural and chemical groups of the samples. There was an increase in the crystallinity index and a predominance of the interaction of radiation with the hydroxyl groups-more susceptible to the oxidative effect-besides the cleavage of chemical bonds depending on the γ-radiation dose. The presence of soluble carbohydrates influenced the mechanical behavior of the samples, in which HTP is more ductile than W-HTP, but γ-radiation did not cause a change in mechanical properties proportionally to the dose. For W-HTP, films there was no mutagenicity or cytotoxicity-even after γ-irradiation at higher doses. In conclusion, the properties of onion-based films varied significantly with the γ-radiation dose. The films were also affected differently by radiation, depending on their chemical composition and the change induced by washing, which influences their use in food packaging or biomedical devices.