Paper Contents
Abstract
Medicinal plants have been widely used to treat a variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases. According to an estimate, 25% of the commonly used medicines contain compounds isolated from plants. Fungal infections are posing a great threat to the mankind, as a large number of people suffer from fungal infections worldwide due to emerging resistance of fungal strains. Human skin acts as a physical barrier; however, sometimes the skin gets infected by fungi, which becomes more severe if the infection occurs on the skin. the several antifungal creams, lotion, sprays are available to treat fungal infections, these show various side effects on the applications site. Over the past few years, herbal extracts and various essential oils have shown effective antifungal activity. Hence, to overcome these obstacles, polysaccharide-based Nano hydrogels embedded with natural plant extracts and oils have become the primary choice. These gels protect plant-based bioactive compounds and they release multiple bioactive compounds in the targeted area. Nano hydrogels can be applied to infected areas, and due to their contagious nature and penetration power, they get directly absorbed through the skin, quickly reaching the skins third layer and effectively reducing the fungal infection. This article describes potential antifungal properties of medicinal plants against fungi, and suggests screening the potential of plants possessing broad-spectrum antifungal effects against emerging fungal infections.
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 Tushar Tiwari. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
