Molecules and Metabolites from Natural Products as Inhibitors of Biofilm in Candida spp. pathogens

Abstract

Background: Biofilm is a critical virulence factor associated with the strains of Candida spp. pathogens as it confers significant resistance to the pathogen against antifungal drugs. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was undertaken by focusing on natural products, which have been reported to inhibit biofilms produced by Candida spp. The databases explored were from PubMed and Google Scholar. The abstracts and full text of the manuscripts from the literature were analyzed and included if found significant. Results: Medicinal plants from the order Lamiales, Apiales, Asterales, Myrtales, Sapindales, Acorales, Poales and Laurales were reported to inhibit the biofilms formed by Candida spp. From the microbiological sources, lactobacilli, Streptomyces chrestomyceticus and Streptococcus thermophilus B had shown the strong biofilm inhibition potential. Further, the diverse nature of the compounds from classes like terpenoids, phenylpropanoid, alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenol, naphthoquinone and saponin was found to be significant in inhibiting the biofilm of Candida spp. Conclusion: Natural products from both plant and microbial origins have proven themselves as a goldmine for isolating the potential biofilm inhibitors with a specific or multi-locus mechanism of action. Structural and functional characterization of the bioactive molecules from active extracts should be the next line of approach along with the thorough exploration of the mechanism of action for the already identified bioactive molecules.

Fungal Biofilms as a Valuable Target for the Discovery of Natural Products That Cope with the Resistance of Medically Important Fungi—Latest Findings

“…Twenty three of the 42 retrieved articles tested pure natural compounds, twenty of them alone and three included in nanosystems. Regarding the main type of pure compounds that showed a capacity for inhibiting biofilms on its own, nine of them were terpenes with four monoterpenes derivatives, four sesquiterpenes and one diterpene, which is in accordance with previous reports [ 124 ]. Two manuscripts studied the coumarin Sc, and one evaluated dammarane-type glycosides (gypenosides).…”

“…To this purpose, most data published in the literature from 2017 were collected with the objective of drawing conclusions that can be useful for future research. Previously, some reviews on this subject were published [ 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ] by Nazzaro et al [ 123 ] and Singla and Dubey [ 124 ], with very few references each regarding the effect against fungal biofilms after 2017.…”

Activity of antifungal drugs and Brazilian red and green propolis extracted with different methodologies against oral isolates of Candida spp.

“…Red propolis, independently of the extraction method used, had higher contents of flavonoids when compared to green propolis, presenting two and four-fold more flavonoids than green propolis ethanolic and ultrasound extracts, respectively. Propolis antifungal activity have been associated to the high flavonoid content found in different propolis extracts [ 66 , 67 ]. Considering that the antifungal activity of red propolis extracts were superior to the green propolis extracts in our study, we can associate this better result to the higher contents of flavonoids and formononetin of red propolis.…”

Highly efficient antibiofilm and antifungal activity of green propolis against Candida species in dentistry materials

“…In addition to propolis, several medicinal plants from the order Lamiales , Apiales , Asterales , Myrtales , Sapindales , Acorales , Poales , and Laurales have been reported to inhibit Candida biofilms. Chemical compounds such as flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, and alkaloids have been shown to be responsible for this antimicrobial property [ 28 ].…”