Abstract:

This paper describes skin fungi and fungal skin infections, and summarizes the antifungal mechanism and the corresponding drug targets of the bioactive compounds from plants. The active antifungal compounds from plants include polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids and essential oils, etc. The main antifungal mechanism is inhibition of fungal cell wall and cell membrane biosynthesis. The target of cell wall biosynthesis inhibition is via inhibiting the activities of β-glucan synthetase, chitin synthase and mannan synthase. And the target of cell membrane biosynthesis inhibition is via inhibiting the synthesis of the structural components, ergosterol and sphingolipids. By inhibiting ergosterol synthetase, serine palmitoyltransferase, ceramide synthase and myo-inositol phosphatidyl ceramide synthase, the active components from plants can also directly bind to ergosterol and sphingolipids and destruct the cell membrane. In addition, phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids and essential oils also target mitochondrion to display antifungal activity, by inducing reactive oxygen species （ROS） accumulation, inhibiting ATP biosynthesis and proton pumps, and disrupt the mitochondrial respiration and metabolic system. This paper has reviewed the antifungal mechanisms of bioactive compounds from plants, hoping to provide a reference for the applications of plant materials in cosmetics, for a better maintaining of skin health.

Key words: plant extracts, antifungal activities, antifungal mechanism, cosmetics