Abstract

Introduction: Today, we see advances in the use of medicinal plants in the treatment of fungal infections. Curcumin has major antimicrobial, antifungal, antimutagenic, and anticancer activities. This systematic review study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of curcumin on a dermatophyte fungus, Trichophyton spp.

Methods: In this study, antifungal effects of curcumin on the different strains of Trichophyton were evaluated. For this reason, several databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase and Google Scholar were searched systematically in years from1995 to 2020. Only articles with at least English abstracts were evaluated. The syntax was constructed with the combination of some keywords along with specific tags used for each of the databases.

Results: In this systematic review, studies showed that curcumin has a potent effect on the inhibition of Trichophyton growth. Of the 2,500 studies in the search step, only 11articleswere eligible for the survey, 6 of which were on T.rubrum, 3 on T. mentagrophytes, 1 on both T. mentagrophyte and T. rubrum, and 1 on T. longifusus.

Conclusion: Today, due to an increase in drug resistance to antifungal agents, plant extracts can be a good alternative in controlling fungal diseases. Curcumin and its compounds are effective in inhibiting or reducing Trichophyton infections in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: Trichophyton, curcumin, antimicrobial activity, antifungal activity, Curcuma longa, T. rubrum.