Development of botanicals to combat antibiotic resistance

Abstract

The discovery of antibiotics in the previous century lead to reduction in mortality and morbidity due to infectious diseases but their inappropriate and irrational use has resulted in emergence of resistant microbial populations. Alteration of target sites, active efflux of drugs and enzymatic degradations are the strategies employed by the pathogenic bacteria to develop intrinsic resistance to antibiotics. This has led to an increased interest in medicinal plants since 25–50% of current pharmaceuticals are plant derived. Crude extracts of medicinal plants could serve as an alternate source of resistance modifying agents owing to the wide variety of secondary metabolites. These metabolites (alkaloids, tannins, polyphenols etc.) could act as potentials for antimicrobials and resistance modifiers. Plant extracts have the ability to bind to protein domains leading to modification or inhibition protein–protein interactions. This enables the herbals to also present themselves as effective modulators of host related cellular processes viz immune response, mitosis, apoptosis and signal transduction. Thus they may exert their activity not only by killing the microorganism but by affecting key events in the pathogenic process, thereby, the bacteria, fungi and viruses may have a reduced ability to develop resistance to botanicals. The article is meant to stimulate research wherein the cidal activity of the extract is not the only parameter considered but other mechanism of action by which plants can combat drug resistant microbes are investigated. The present article emphasizes on mechanisms involved in countering multi drug resistance.

Benefits of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) pulp oil‐based mouthwash on oral health

“…Due to the increased microbial resistance against antibiotics and antiseptics as well as the high treatment costs, there have been adequate motives to search for alternative remedies to overcome this issue (Valle et al 2015;Gupta and Birdi 2017).…”

Antidiarrheal activity of ethanolic extract of leaves of Sangkareho (Callicarpa longifolia Lam) from Central Kalimantan

“…During the 20 th century, due to increasing resistance to antibacterial agents, the side effects and the cost of treatments, the interest in traditional medicine and herb has been progressively increased [8][9]. WHO has encouraged studies for treatment of diarrheal conditions, therefore, as alternative medicinal plants were needed in discovering and developing for new anti-diarrhea agents [10].…”

QSAR and Structure Based Modeling of Marine Derived Anticancer Hymenialdisine Compounds

“…Lacking any protective shell or means of escape, sponges are evolved to synthesize a variety of natural novel leads against cancer, bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases. Drug resistance is one of the major issues which could be solved by the treatment with potent natural products [1,2]. Many marine natural products have successfully been undergoing on the late stages of clinical trials, as for example ara-A (vidarabine), an anti-viral drug used against the herpes simplex encephalitis virus.…”