Clinically Used And Potential Antimycotics In The Context Of Therapy Of Dermatomycoses

Paradoxically, despite the progress in medicine, the prevalence of fungal infections is increasing from year to year. At the beginning of the third millennium, practical therapeutic options are still very limited. Currently, only eight classes of antifungal compounds are in clinical use, only four of which are used in the treatment of dermatomycoses. The intense search for the “Holy Grail” of antifungal therapy that has been going on since the second half of the 20th century faces serious obstacles arising from the eukaryotic model of fungal cell structure. In this paper, new groups of chemical compounds of mainly natural origin have been synthetically described, which due to their interesting antifungal activity, including pathogenic species of dermatophytes, may constitute new therapeutic options. Among compounds currently arousing great interest, compounds from the group of terpenoids, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids and essential oils deserve attention. Many of these compounds are in clinical trials as potential antifungal agents, while others are in preclinical studies. Future research should focus on attempting to determine the applicability of the given substances in implementation for routine use and their effectiveness, toxicity and side effects.

1. Introduction. 2. General characteristics of dermatophytes in the therapeutic aspect. 3. New synthetic preparations with antifungal activity. 4. Natural antifungal preparations. 4.1. Terpenoids and essential oils. 4.2. Alkaloids. 4.3. Flavonoids. 4.4. Saponins. 4.5. Other chemical compounds 5. Summary