Atividade antimicrobiana de Cnidoscolus quercifolius Pohl: revisão de literatura

Abstract

The use of medicinal plants as a therapeutic resource has been a common practice since the most ancient civilizations. In dentistry, phytotherapy has been used to obtain several benefits, such as antimicrobial, antifungal, antiseptic agents and pain reduction. In the Brazilian Northeast, there is a diversity of plants, among which we can mention Cnidoscolus quercifolius, a plant endemic and native to Brazil. Given this approach, the objective of this work was to carry out a narrative literature review on the antimicrobial activity of Cnidoscolus quercifolius. To carry out the research, articles between the years 2013 and 2023 were selected from the following platforms: Google Scholar, PubMed and ScienceDirect, using the term “Cnidoscolus quercifolius” associated with “antimicrobial activity”, “antibacterial activity” and “antifungal activity” using the Boolean operator “AND”. As a result, it was found that some studies demonstrated that Cnidoscolus quercifolius has antimicrobial activity against some species of bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Pseudomonas aeuroginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis. However, disappointing results were found, since studies demonstrated that Cnidoscolus quercifolius was not able to inhibit the bacterial growth of several bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguinis, Enterobacter clocae, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, among others. Regarding antifungal activity, according to the studies, it was found that Cnidoscolus quercifolius inhibited the fungal growth of Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, however, Cnidoscolus quercifolius did not show antifungal activity against Fusarium sp., Fusarium solani, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis. After analyzing the data, it can be concluded that the species Cnidoscolus quercifolius has antimicrobial potential. However, most studies have shown that C. quercifolius does not have antimicrobial activity against several species of bacteria and fungi. Therefore, it is worth noting that studies on this species are limited, and new microbiological studies are necessary, adopting different methodologies and concentrations to better evaluate the biological properties of Cnidoscolus quercifolius.