Atividade antifúngica do extrato de Rosmarinus officinalis linn (Alecrim) sobre cepas clínicas de Candida ssp.

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used for thousands of years by humans and have a broad spectrum of activity and inhibition against some bacteria and fungi. The essential oil of Rosmarinus officinalis linn (Rosemary) is a possibility in the treatment of infections by Candida ssp., Precisely because of its antioxidant and antimicrobial activity, in addition to being used by the industry in the preservation of food, preparation of fragrances and aromatherapy. Thus, the study aims to evaluate in vitro the antifungal activity of the extract of Rosmarinus officinalis linn. (Rosemary) on clinical strains of Candida ssp. Methodologically, the study is an integrative literature review, based on national and international scientific articles that addressed the theme. The search period occurred between the months of March and April 2021, using the following databases: LILACS, SCIELO and Pubmed. The studies were selected from the crossing of the following descriptors: Antifungal activity. Candida ssp. Rosmarinus officinalis linn. The inclusion criteria listed for the research were: scientific articles, in English, Spanish and Portuguese; full text available online, free access, that were dated from 2017 to 2021 and permeated the theme discussed. When the descriptors were crossed, 28 articles were located in the three databases, of these 09 in Scielo, 09 in LILACS and 10 in PubMed. Upon careful reading of the articles, 06 publications from different journals were selected to compose the integrative review. The results demonstrate that the rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) presented a satisfactory performance for several areas, as is the case of dentistry, because, it was verified that the extract of this plant decreased the gingival bleeding and reduced the bacterial plaque. It was realized that the essential oils of rosemary can be used as an antispasmodic; antidepressant; in the control of glycemia, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, protection against hepatotoxicity, cancer prevention and antimicrobial. Finally, with respect to the antifungal effect of R. officinalis L., it is concluded that its effectiveness in inhibiting the formation of the germ tube of C. albicans has been observed, making rosemary extract a viable alternative for the treatment of infections caused by Candida. However, more research needs to be developed to improve this therapy.