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INTRODUCTION
In the 1990s, drug resistance had become an important problem in a variety of serious infectious diseases of humans including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, tuberculosis, and other bacterial infections. At the same time, there have been dramatic increases in the incidence of fungal infections, which are probably the results of alterations in immune status associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, cancer chemotherapy and organ and bone marrow transplantation. The rise in the incidence of fungal infections has exacerbated the need for the next generation of antifungal agents, since many of the currently available drugs have undesirable side effects, are ineffective against new or re-emerging fungi, or lead to the rapid development of resistance. Antifungal drug resistance is quickly becoming a major problem in certain populations, especially those infected with HIV, in whom drug resistance of the agent causing oropharyngeal candidiasis is a major problem (Graybill, 1988).
Resistance to antimicrobial agents has important implications for morbidity, mortality and health care costs all over the world. Substantial attention has been focused on developing a more detailed understanding of the mechanism of antimicrobial options, new antimicrobial options for the treatment of infections caused by resistance organisms and methods to prevent the emergence and spread of resistance in the first place. The study of resistance to antifungal agents has lagged behind that of antibacterial resistance for several reasons.
Prior to the late 1980’s with the rise of AIDS, fungal infections were rare (Wey et al., 1988). These developments and the associated increase in fungal infections intensified the search for new, safer, and more efficacious agents to combat serious fungal infections. One of the options in tackling this problem is by ethnopharmacological approach.
Ethnopharmacology is the cross-cultural study of how people derive medicines from plants, animals, fungi, or other naturally occurring resources. Up to now, the field has focused mostly on developing drugs based on the medicinal use of plants by indigenous people. The « discovery » that indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants may hold clues for curing « western » diseases has become one of the most widely used arguments for conserving cultural and biological diversity (Farnsworth, 1988). Due to the potential for profit, some drug companies have teamed up with botanists, anthropologists, biochemists, conservation University of Pretoria etd – Masoko, P (2007) organizations, and governments of less-developed countries to protect biologically diverse areas and search for new drugs.
CHAPTER 1 Literature Review
1. Introduction
1.1Medicinal plants
1.1.1.Approaches for selecting medicinal plants
1.1.2.Importance of medicinal plants
1.1.3. Traditional herbal medicine
1.1.4. Ethnobotanical research
1.2. Combretaceae
1.2.1. Ethnopharmacology of Combretaceae
1.2.2. Antimicrobial activity of the Combretaceae
1.2.3. Phytochemistry of the Combretaceae
1.3. Some of the work done on Combretaceae family in Phytomedicine Programme
1.4. Existing antifungal drugs
1.4.1. Novel antifungal medicine
1.5. New potential targets for antifungal development
1.5.1. The fungal cell wall
1.5.2. The fungal cytoplasmic membrane
1.5.3. DNA and protein synthesis
1.5.4. Signal transduction pathways
1.5.5. Virulence factors
1.6. Major groups of antimicrobial compounds from plants
1.6.1. Phenolics and Polyphenols
1.6.2. Quinones
1.6.3. Flavones, flavonoids, and flavonols
1.6.4. Tannins
1.6.5. Coumarins
1.6.6. Terpenoids and Essential Oils
1.6.7. Alkaloids
1.6.8. Lectins and Polypeptides
1.7.Fungi
1.7.1. Structure
1.7.2. Classification
1.7.3. Multiplication
1.7.4. Pathogenesis
1.7.5. Host Defenses
1.7.6. Epidemiology
1.7.7. Diagnosis
1.7.8. Treatment
1.8. Fungal pathogens used in this study
1.8.1. Candida albicans
1.8.1.a. Pathogenicity and Clinical Significance
1.8.2. Aspergillus fumigatus
CHAPTER 2 (Extraction and TLC profiles)
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Materials and Methods
2.3. Results
2.4. Discussion
CHAPTER 3 (Antioxidants)
3.1. Introduction
3.1.1. Antioxidant screening
3.2. Materials and Methods
3.2.1. TLC-DPPH antioxidant screening
3.3. Results and Discussion
3.4. Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 (Solvent toxicity)
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Materials and Method
4.3. Results
4.4. Discussion
4.5. Conclusion
CHAPTER 5 Antifungal assays (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration)
5.1. Introduction
5.1.1. p-iodonitrotetrazolium violet (INT) reaction
5.2. Materials and Method
5.3. Results (Papers)
CHAPTER 6 (Bioautography)
CHAPTER 7 (Extraction and isolation of compounds)
CHAPTER 8 (Structure elucidation)
CHAPTER 9 (In vitro cytotoxicity tests of the developed extracts and isolated compounds)
Chapter 10 (Bioassays of isolated compounds)
CHAPTER 11 (In vivo antifungal activity of Combretum and Terminalia extracts and isolated compounds in rats)
CHAPTER 12 (General Discussion and Conclusion)
CHAPTER 13 (References)
CHAPTER 14 (Appendix)
