Traditional use of medicinal plants in Brazil to treat mycosis, antifungal activity, and their nanomaterials against Trichophyton rubrum

Introduction

Mycosis are health problems that affects the global population. Current treatments have used synthetic drugs with several side effects. To overcome these drawbacks, medicinal plants have been investigated as a promising alternative to this problem, and these can be associated with nanotechnology. Thus, this study brought together, for the first time, information from the literature on the traditional use of plants to treat mycosis in Brazil, antifungal potential against Trichophyton rubrum, phytochemistry, nanomaterials, and toxicity.

Methods

We reviewed the literature since the first report in 2002 on the traditional use of medicinal plants to treat mycosis in Brazil until May 2024.

Results

According to the scientific documents analyzed, traditional communities in Brazil use 87 plant species distributed in 43 families to treat mycosis. Among these 87 species, only 29 have been evaluated for in vitro antifungal efficacy against T. rubrum. Citral, ethyl cinnamate, eugenol, linalool, thymol, and ricinine isolated from Brazilian medicinal plants were effective against this dermatophyte. Furthermore, we noted that seven species were associated with nanomaterials (nine nanoparticles and one nanoemulsion).

Conclusion

The development of new antifungals to treat onychomycosis caused by T. rubrum based on medicinal plants should be explored since these phytochemicals show advantages over synthetic treatments. Moreover, when associated with nanotechnological strategies, these natural products can have improved physicochemical and biological properties, proving to be promising tools against onychomycosis.