Anti-trichomonad activities of different compounds from foods, marine products, and medicinal plants: a review

Abstract

Human trichomoniasis, caused by the pathogenic parasitic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis, is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease that contributes to reproductive morbidity in affected women and possibly to prostate cancer in men. Tritrichomonas foetus strains cause the disease trichomoniasis in farm animals (cattle, bulls, pigs) and diarrhea in domestic animals (cats and dogs). Because some T. vaginalis strains have become resistant to the widely used drug metronidazole, there is a need to develop alternative treatments, based on safe natural products that have the potential to replace and/or enhance the activity of lower doses of metronidazole. To help meet this need, this overview collates and interprets worldwide reported studies on the efficacy of structurally different classes of food, marine, and medicinal plant extracts and some of their bioactive pure compounds against T. vaginalis and T. foetus in vitro and in infected mice and women. Active food extracts include potato peels and their glycoalkaloids α-chaconine and α-solanine, caffeic and chlorogenic acids, and quercetin; the tomato glycoalkaloid α-tomatine; theaflavin-rich black tea extracts and bioactive theaflavins; plant essential oils and their compounds (+)-α-bisabolol and eugenol; the grape skin compound resveratrol; the kidney bean lectin, marine extracts from algae, seaweeds, and fungi and compounds that are derived from fungi; medicinal extracts and about 30 isolated pure compounds. Also covered are the inactivation of drug-resistant T. vaginalis and T. foetus strains by sensitized light; anti-trichomonad effects in mice and women; beneficial effects of probiotics in women; and mechanisms that govern cell death. The summarized findings will hopefully stimulate additional research, including molecular-mechanism-guided inactivations and human clinical studies, that will help ameliorate adverse effects of pathogenic protozoa.

Antimicrobial Effects of Plant Compounds against Virulent <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7 Strains Containing Shiga Toxin Genes in Laboratory Media and on Romaine Lettuce and Spinach

“…Friedman, et al [30] reported that both black tea theaflavins and green tea catechins inhibited the growth of Bacillus cereus at nanomolar levels and that some were more active than medicinal antibiotics; freshly prepared teas were more active than day-old teas. Tea compounds also showed strong antiviral [31] and anti-parasitic trichomonad properties [32].…”

Nanoparticles as antimicrobial and antiviral agents: A literature-based perspective study

“…From ancient times, fungal infections have been significantly contributing to the ever-increasing morbidity and mortality rate (Ardi et al, 2020;Friedman et al, 2020;Khoury et al, 2020). The fungicidal and fungistatic activity of nanoparticles is being studied to control outbreaks caused by pathogenic fungi.…”

In vitro efficacy testing of Cymbopogon nardus oil against Tritrichomonas foetus trophozoites

“…But also, the commercial tetrasaccharide tomato glycoalkaloid tomatine and the aglycone tomatidine (Liu et al, 2016). Research on natural products against other trichomonad species is somewhat more extensive (Friedman et al, 2020). In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that most of the plants with anti-trichomonal activity belong to the families Asteracea, Geraniaceae Lamiaceae and Myrtaceae (Díaz-Castellanos et al, 2022).…”