FLAVONOIDES DE PLANTAS MEDICINAIS: UMA ALTERNATIVA PROMISSORA CONTRA Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.619122502013

• Palavras-chave: Tuberculose; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Resistência antimicrobiana; Plantas medicinais; Flavonoides.

• Keywords: Tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Antimicrobial resistance; Medicinal plants; Flavonoids

• Abstract: Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and is one of the main causes of high global morbidity and mortality. The inappropriate and indiscriminate use of antibiotics has resulted in the emergence of resistant Mtb strains, rendering many currently available drugs ineffective. Thus, the treatment of this disease has been hampered by the emergence of Mtb resistant to the main antibiotics used in therapy, including rifampicin and isoniazid. Therefore, there is a growing demand to develop new antimicrobial agents capable of reducing the use of antibiotics and addressing the development of resistance. To solve this problem, screening of medicinal plants is one of the alternatives currently employed in the search for new compounds capable of overcoming antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a review study on the anti-Mtb activity of flavonoids extracted from medicinal plants. For this purpose, an integrative literature review was carried out in the Scientific Direct, Scopus and PubMed databases, with the adoption of the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS): “natural products”, “flavonoids”, “Mycobacterium tuberculosis”, “antimycobacterial”, “medicinal plant”. Studies published between 2008 and 2023 were selected. The results indicate that flavonoids extracted from medicinal plants show promising anti-TB activity. It was possible to demonstrate that the Fabaceae and Asteraceae families were predominant, therefore, they should be the target of new studies for the isolation, identification and antimicrobial evaluation from new species belonging to these families. Despite showing promising activity, it is important to emphasize that studies are still needed that also evaluate the in vitro interaction of flavonoids with antibiotics used in therapy in order to prove their potentiation against resistant species of M. tuberculosis. Finally, the results obtained in this study reinforce the promising therapeutic potential of compounds obtained from medicinal plants