Monoterpenos com atividade anti-Cryptococcus neoformans: uma visão integrativa.

Abstract

Cryptococcosis, a disease classified as systemic mycosis, caused by fungi of the genus Cryptococcus, has been highlighted as a disease that is present among the priorities of the World Health Organization, which recently published a Guide, orienting on the need for new researches, directed to the disease and to the development of new drugs, due to the reports of antifungal resistance and degree of toxicity in patients. The current treatment for those with the disease is through the use of amphotericin B associated with flucytosine for severe cases of the disease, and this, when stabilized, is treated as maintenance therapy with fluconazole. However, following WHO guidelines, due to reports of antimicrobial resistance and toxicity of current drugs, researchers have been seeking alternatives to treat cryptococcosis. The aim of this study was perform an integrative literature review on monoterpenes with anti-Cryptococcus neoformans activity. The search for material was conducted in Web of Science, Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Embase and BVS regional portal databases, using the descriptors "Cryptococcus" and "monoterpenes" and refining the articles between the years 2012 and 2022. A total of 453 articles were found, 17 of which were included in this study. The monoterpenes with anti-Cryptococcus neoformans activity were: carvacrol, thymol, linalool, geraniol, pinene, ocimene, terpineol, terpinenol, sabinene, geranyl acetate, cymene, limonene, neral, geranial, citral and nerol, the first ten with proven fungicide and the others with inhibitory activity, which were tested, in vitro, through the techniques of microdilution and subculture, macrodilution and subculture and disc diffusion using the following culture media: Sabouraud Dextrose Broth, Sabouraud Dextrose Agar, RPMI-1640, Mannitol Yeast Agar, Trypticase Soy Broth and Nutrient Broth It appears that in vitro studies can contribute to the continuation of the investigation of monoterpenes with antifungal potential against strains of Cryptococcus neoformans.