Anti-Candida Activity of Curcumin: A Systematic Review.

Curcumin is one of the important natural compounds that is extracted from turmeric. This compound and its derivatives have numerous biological properties, including antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and healing effects. Extensive research in various fields has been conducted on turmeric as it is widely used as a food additive. The significant antifungal activity is one of the major effects of curcumin. In this paper, recent studies on the effects of different forms of curcumin drug on the candidiasis were systematically examined and discussed. The data in this study were extracted from the articles and reports published in the Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus databases. After the preliminary investigation, relevant reports were selected and classified based on the incorporated formulation and purpose of the study. After a systematic discussion of the data, it was found that the use of medicinal forms based on nanoparticles can increase the absorption and target the controlled release of curcumin with a more effective role compared to other formulations. Consequently, it can be concluded that new methods of modern medicine can be employed to increase the efficacy of natural pharmaceutical compounds used in the past. In this regard, the present study analyzed the effect of curcumin against various Candida infections, using the recent data. It was found that applying a combination of drug formulation or the formulation of curcumin and its derivatives can be an effective strategy to overcome the medicine resistance in fungal infections, especially candidiasis.

Antimicrobial Activities of Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad; A Review.

Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad is a species native to Iran and is highly important in Southwestern regions. It belongs to the Lamiaceae family and grows in different climates. A number of pharmacological properties such as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-thyroid, antioxidant, and diuretic have been attributed to this plant. In recent years, a wide range of biological properties, extract, and essential oil of Satureja khuzestanica has been studied by researchers. In the present study, Scopus, SID, ISI, Google Scholar, and PubMed indices were used to extract research articles. No publication time constraint was considered, and the keyword "Satureja khuzestanica" was used to search articles. All extracted articles were examined by two expert researchers and those on the biologic and fundamental science properties of this plan entered the study. Results showed that S. khuzestanica has extensive research and medicinal applications. Considering the economic and medical importance of S. khuzestanica, it is hoped that more extensive studies can be conducted in the future on the use of compounds and derivatives of this plant in order to obtain herbal medications to treat pathogens in human and animal.

The Experimental Role of Medicinal Plants in Treatment of Toxoplasma gondii Infection: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii is the global protozoa that could cause contamination in warm-blooded animals and is considered among the opportunistic pathogens in immunocompromised patients. Among the people at risk, toxoplasmosis infection can lead to the incidence of severe clinical manifestations, encephalitis, chorioretinitis, and even death. PURPOSE: The present research is focused on the new research for the treatment of toxoplasmosis parasitic disease using medicinal herbs. METHODS: The search was performed in five English databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar up from 2010 to December 2019. Studies in any language were entered in the searching step if they had an English abstract. The words and terms were used as a syntax with specific tags of each database. RESULTS: Out of 1832 studies, 36 were eligible to be reviewed. The findings showed that 17 studies (47%) were performed in vitro, 14 studies (39%) in vivo, and 5 studies (14%) both in vivo and in vitro. CONCLUSION: The studies showed that the plant extracts can be a good alternative in reducing the toxoplasmosis effects in the host and the herbal extracts can be used to produce natural product-based drugs affecting toxoplasmosis with fewer side-effects than synthetic drugs.

In vitro potential effect of Pipper longum methanolic extract against protoscolices of hydatid cysts.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of methanolic extract of P. longum (PLM) against protoscolices of hydatid cyst in vitro. Four different concentrations of PLM extract (25, 50, 100 and 150 mg/ml) were used for the experiments. The metabolites in the PLM extract were characterized by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed the highest lethality of PLM extract in 50 mg/ml for 60 min exposure. The IC50 value obtained about 20 mg/ml for 60 min of PLM extract exposure. In this study, valuable findings were obtained for the first time about the scolicidal activity of P. longum, which is expected to conduct further studies in this field in the future.

Antifungal Activity of Capric Acid, Nystatin, and Fluconazole and Their In Vitro Interactions Against Candida Isolates from Neonatal Oral Thrush.

Due to the increasing resistance of various Candida species to azole drugs, particularly fluconazole, it would be of significant importance to look for alternative therapies. The aim of this study was to investigate the antifungal activity of capric acid and its in vitro interactions with nystatin and fluconazole against Candida isolates. A total of 40 Candida isolates (C. albicans, 36; C. kefyr, 2; C. tropicalis, 1; C. glabrata, 1) collected from the oral cavity of neonates with oropharyngeal candidiasis and a reference strain of C. albicans (ATCC 10231) were used in this study. Antifungal activity of capric acid and two comparator antifungal drugs, namely fluconazole and nystatin, was tested according to CLSI M27-A3/M60 method. The in vitro interaction between capric acid with fluconazole and nystatin was determined following a checkerboard method and results were interpreted using fractional inhibitory concentration index. Nystatin had the lowest minimum inhibitory concentrations (range, 0.125-8 µg/mL; geometric mean [GM], 0.6229 µg/mL) followed by fluconazole (range, 0.5-16 µg/mL; GM, 1.9011 µg/mL) and capric acid (range, 128-2,048 µg/mL; GM, 835.9756 µg/mL). When tested in combination, capric acid with fluconazole demonstrated synergistic, indifferent, and antagonistic interactions in 3 (7.317%), 24 (58.536%), and 14 (34.146%) cases, respectively. For combination of capric acid with nystatin, synergistic, indifferent, and antagonistic interactions were observed in 1 (2.439%), 19 (46.341%), and 21 (51.219%) cases, respectively. All cases of synergistic interactions were against resistant or susceptible dose-dependent isolates. Fluconazole, nystatin, and capric acid seem to be more effective when they are used alone compared with their combination. However, their combination might be effective on resistant isolates.

Sambucus ebulus extract stimulates cellular responses in cutaneous leishmaniasis.

This is the first study aiming to determine the therapeutic effects of the Sambucus ebulus aquatic extract as an antileishmanial herbal drug and evaluate the immune responses in Leishmania major major infected BALB/c mice. The antileishmanial activity of S ebulus aquatic extract was evaluated using MTT test as well as parasite rescue and transformation assay. Footpad swelling and parasite load of infected mice were measured by several techniques. The immune responses were evaluated by measuring the levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, nitric oxide and arginase. The results indicated that S. ebulus can significantly decrease L. major promastigotes and amastigotes viability, but it was not toxic to macrophages. The lesion size, parasite burden and the level of ARG decreased in the treated infected mice, while the IFN-γ-to-IL-4 ratio and the level of NO increased significantly. Altogether, the S. ebulus extract is an effective compound for killing Leishmania parasite without excessive toxicity to the host cells and can cure the CL by switching the host immune responses towards Th1 response. Thus, it may be a perfect therapeutic option for CL treatment.