Traditional medicines of the Himalayan region: Anti-dermatophytic potential and mode of action of isolated compounds.

The Himalayan region possesses a vast diversity of medicinal plants for ethnodermatological use. There is increasing scientific interest regarding the chemical, microbiological and clinical evidence. The aim of the present review is to compile fragmented literature on ethnodermatology, anti-dermatophytic activities of the Himalayan flora, their active phytoconstituents and to discover gaps in the research for further studies that may provide targeted drug development. Relevant literature between the years 1990–2021 was searched using online databases, such as PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google scholar and Research Gate. About 200 research papers were downloaded. Among them, only 49 papers were reviewed, which were published in English and contain maximum information on Himalayan medicinal plants being tested in-vitro against the selected dermatophytes and their inhibitory activity was mentioned in number. The knowledge of medicinal plants in the Himalayan region has great potential to cure skin infections. Activity of plant species were reported against eight selected dermatophytes of Trichophyton and Microsporum genera. Root extract of Coleus forskohlii has shown potent inhibition zones (10–25 mm) against Trichophyton ru brum and Microsporum gypseum. Phytochemical investigation of these plants showed a variety of secondary metabolites, such as saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids and iridoid. Except for α-Pinene and δ-3-Carene extracted from Juniperus communis , the rest of the compounds were not tested directly against dermal fungi. T. rubrum has been reported to be the most tested pathogen in in vitro studies. Scarce data is available on the mode of action of the plant extracts or their active compounds against dermal fungi. It is concluded that very scarce literature has been found on the toxicity level, isolation of pure compounds and their mechanism of action for these traditionally used plant species. Thus, the authors invite the attention of chemists, pharmacists and pharmacologists to further explore anti-dermatophytic plants for the isolation of pure compounds, mechanism of action and development of targeted drugs or medicines from most effective compounds against dermatomycosis. • Traditional usage of Himalayan medicinal plants against skin problems. • In vitro activities of Himalayan medicinal plants against dermatophytes. • Identification of compounds in the studied plants. • Activities of isolated compounds against dermatophytes. • Possible mechanism of action reported in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]