Recent Status and Advancements in the Development of Antifungal Agents: Highlights on Plant and Marine Based Antifungals.

The developing resistance in fungi has become a key challenge, which is being faced nowadays with the available antifungal agents in the market. Further search for novel compounds from different sources has been explored to meet this problem. The current review describes and highlights recent advancement in the antifungal drug aspects from plant and marine based sources. The current available antifungal agents act on specific targets on the fungal cell wall, like ergosterol synthesis, chitin biosynthesis, sphingolipid synthesis, glucan synthesis etc. We discuss some of the important anti-fungal agents like azole, polyene and allylamine classes that inhibit the ergosterol biosynthesis. Echinocandins inhibit ß-1, 3 glucan synthesis in the fungal cell wall. The antifungals poloxins and nikkomycins inhibit fungal cell wall component chitin. Apart from these classes of drugs, several combinatorial therapies have been carried out to treat diseases due to fungal resistance. Recently, many antifungal agents derived from plant and marine sources showed potent activity. The renewed interest in plant and marine derived compounds for the fungal diseases created a new way to treat these resistant strains which are evident from the numerous literature publications in the recent years. Moreover, the compounds derived from both plant and marine sources showed promising results against fungal diseases. Altogether, this review article discusses the current antifungal agents and highlights the plant and marine based compounds as a potential promising antifungal agents.

Preparation, characterization and evaluation of biocomposite films containing chitosan and sago starch impregnated with silver nanoparticles.

The positive attributes of excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability of biopolymers with versatile biological activities have provided ample opportunities for further development of functional biomaterials of high potential in various fields. The biopolymers used in this study, i.e. chitosan and sago starch are abundantly available in nature and can be used in various biomedical applications. In the present study, the composite films of chitosan (Ch) and sago starch (SG) impregnated with silver nanoparticles (AgNP) with and without antibiotic gentamicin (G) were prepared by solvent casting method. The films prepared were characterized for their physic-chemical properties using conventional methods. The results obtained showed that with the increase of chitosan content in the composite results in decrease in its water absorption capacity. The FTIR and SEM studies have shown the composite nature of the films prepared. Ch-SG-AgNP and Ch-SG-AgNP-G composites were used as wound dressing materials in experimental wounds of rats. The healing pattern of the wounds was evaluated by planimetric studies, macroscopic observations, biochemical studies and histopathological observations. The results have shown faster healing pattern in the wounds treated with Ch-SG-AgNP and Ch-SG-AgNP-G composites compared to untreated control. This study suggests that Ch-SG-AgNP film may be a potential candidate as a dressing material for wound healing applications.