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Saponins as Antimycotic Agents: Glycosides of Medicagenic Acid

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Saponins Used in Traditional and Modern Medicine

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 404))

Abstract

The continuous search for new antimycotic drugs is a consequence of the broad use of immunosuppressive drugs and broad-spectrum antibiotics, high number of AIDS patients, and widespread dermatophyte infections. The concern with increased resistance due to widespread and prolonged antifungal treatment, particularly with azoles, is noteworthy. Our efforts were focused on medicagenic acid derivatives isolated from alfalfa and on semi-synthetic ones. In general, these materials exhibited potent fungistatic effects against several plant pathogens and human dermatophytes. Furthermore, they were fungicidal against medically important yeasts, showing a most impressive activity against Cryptococcus neoformans; the minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) value of the gluco derivative of medicagenic acid, compound G2, is 4 μg/ml. The mode of action as well as the structure-activity relationships of these compounds were studied. Compound G2, when applied topically, was effective in curing skin lesions of guinea pigs infected with the dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes and good skin tolerance to the drug was noted. Furthermore, it had a life-prolonging effect on mice infected with C. neoformans and recently, liposomes containing compound G2 were used efficiently as a drug delivery system in treatment of murine cryptococcosis and candidiosis.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of our late colleague Mordekhai Levy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry, Food Sciences and Nutrition Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Uri Zehavi

  2. Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, The Hebrew University — Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, 91120, Israel

    Itzhack Polacheck

Authors
  1. Uri Zehavi
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  2. Itzhack Polacheck
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, 246B Noble Research Center, 74078-0454, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

    George R. Waller

  2. Institute of Pharmaceutical Science School of Medicine, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734, Japan

    Kazuo Yamasaki

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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Zehavi, U., Polacheck, I. (1996). Saponins as Antimycotic Agents: Glycosides of Medicagenic Acid. In: Waller, G.R., Yamasaki, K. (eds) Saponins Used in Traditional and Modern Medicine. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 404. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1367-8_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1367-8_44

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-1369-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1367-8

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