Department of Microbiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2018;19(4):253-262. doi: 10.1631/jzus.B1700063.
Microorganisms provide both beneficial and harmful effects to human beings. Beneficial effects come from the symbiotic relationship that exists between humans and microbiota, but then several human illnesses have turned some friendly microbes into opportunistic pathogens, causing several microbial-related diseases. Various efforts have been made to create and utilize antimicrobial agents in the treatment and prevention of these infections, but such efforts have been hampered by the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Despite extensive studies on drug discovery to alleviate this problem, issues with the toxicity and tolerance of certain compounds and continuous microbial evolution have forced researchers to focus on screening various phytochemical dietary compounds for antimicrobial activity. Linolenic acid and its derivatives (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) are omega-3 fatty acids that have been studied due to their role in human health, being important for the brain, the eye, the cardiovascular system, and general human growth. However, their utilization as antimicrobial agents has not been widely appreciated, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of antimicrobial mechanisms, toxicity, and route of administration. Therefore, this review focuses on the efficacy, mechanism, and toxicity of omega-3 fatty acids as alternative therapeutic agents for treating and preventing diseases associated with pathogenic microorganisms.
微生物对人类既有有益的影响，也有有害的影响。有益的影响来自于人类和微生物之间存在的共生关系，但随后一些人类疾病使一些友好的微生物变成了机会性病原体，导致了几种与微生物相关的疾病。人们已经做出了各种努力来创造和利用抗菌剂来治疗和预防这些感染，但这种努力受到了抗菌药物耐药性的出现的阻碍。尽管人们广泛研究了药物发现以缓解这个问题，但某些化合物的毒性和耐受性问题以及微生物的持续进化，迫使研究人员专注于筛选各种植物化学膳食化合物的抗菌活性。亚麻酸及其衍生物（二十碳五烯酸和二十二碳六烯酸）是 ω-3 脂肪酸，由于它们在人类健康中的作用而受到研究，对大脑、眼睛、心血管系统和人类生长都很重要。然而，它们作为抗菌剂的应用尚未得到广泛认可，这可能是由于对其抗菌机制、毒性和给药途径缺乏了解。因此，本综述重点介绍了 ω-3 脂肪酸作为治疗和预防与致病性微生物相关疾病的替代治疗剂的疗效、机制和毒性。
