RECENT REVIEW ON HERBAL APPROACHES TO REGULATE CANDIDA INFECTIONS

Herbal plants have long been known to have antifungal properties. The medicinal plants are prospective in aquaculture as an alternative to antibiotics and other anti-candida drugs. This article aims to review the reported herbal medicines with their research findings that have an enormous future prospective for the effective treatment of Candida infections. Various species of Candida were classified and their pathogenesis and mechanism of action were highlighted. Mechanisms of action of commonly used synthetic anti-candida drugs were compared to that of the herbal plants. Recent plant-based antifungal activity studies were analyzed. Ten species of candida, namely Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei, Candida dubliniensis, Candida lusitaniae, Candida guilliermondii, Candida rugosa, Candida zeylanoides and Candida tropicalis were found to be responsible for infection in human. Plant-based natural products were found to produce anti-candida actions based ongermination inhibition and formation of biofilm, cell metabolism, cell wall integrity, cell membrane plasticity, and induction of apoptosis. Around 20 research works were analyzed, and it was found that the majority of the active constituents that produced anti-candida action belonged to the alkaloid, flavonoid, saponin, triterpenoid and anthraquinone class of compounds.