Review on Plant-Based Management in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance - Mechanistic Perspective

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes no longer respond to any pharmacological agents, rendering the conventional antimicrobial agents ineffective. AMR has been classified as one of the top 10 life-threatening global health problems needed multilevel attention and global cooperation to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) according to the World Health Organization (WHO), making the discovery of a new and effective antimicrobial agent a priority. The recommended treatments for drug-resistant microbes are available but limited. Furthermore, the transformation of microbes over time increases the risk of developing drug resistance. Hence, plant metabolites such as terpenes, phenolic compounds and alkaloids are widely studied due to their antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic effects. Plant-derived antimicrobials are preferred due to their desirable efficacy and safety profile. Plant metabolites work by targeting microbial cell membranes, interfering with the synthesis of microbial DNA/RNA/enzymes and disrupting quorum sensing and efflux pump expression. They also work synergistically with conventional antibiotics to enhance antimicrobial effects. Accordingly, this review aims to identify currently available pharmacological therapies against microbes and AMR, as well as to discuss the importance of plant and secondary metabolites as a possible solution for AMR together with their mechanisms of action. All the information was obtained from government databases, WHO websites, PubMed, Springer, Google Scholar and Science Direct. Based on the information obtained, AMR is regarded as a significant warning to global healthcare. Plant derivatives such as secondary metabolites may be considered as potential therapeutic targets to mitigate the non-ending AMR.

New Approaches to Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance in Endophthalmitis

“…Additionally, efforts are being made to investigate plant-based methods and natural products as potential solutions to antimicrobial resistance. It has been proposed that naturally occurring compounds (including plant metabolites), rather than fully synthetic molecules (such as sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, and oxazolidinones) would be better suited to overcome AMR [ 151 , 152 ]. However, none of these strategies are in current widespread clinical use.…”

Applications of Antimicrobial Stewardship and Natural Product Chemistry in Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance

“…Several plant-derived substances, including phenylpropanoids, terpenoids, betulinic and ursolic acids, and alkaloids, such as berberine, indole, and chelerythrine, exhibited anti-biofilm activity toward Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and staphylococcus biofilms. The disruption of intercellular communication, disturbance in cell-to-cell coaggregation, inhibition of cell mobility, inactivation of bacterial adhesins, or stimulation of bacterial dispersal are the suggested mechanisms of plants' secondary metabolites in inhibiting bacterial biofilm [106]. The screening of plant extracts and natural products for antimicrobial activity has revealed that medicinal plants are a potential source of novel anti-infective medicines [107].…”

Inhibitory mechanisms of promising antimicrobials from plant byproducts: A review

“…Given the rich and unique chemodiversity of plant‐derived compounds, their antimicrobial mechanisms may differ from conventional antimicrobial agents (Jubair et al., 2021; Porras et al., 2021). Thus, they will likely exert significant antimicrobial effects against pathogen microorganisms, including resistant strains, or augment the effect of antimicrobials against which the pathogens developed resistance (Arip et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2022). The prevailing notion is that natural compounds exert their antibacterial mechanism via chemical interference with the essential components’ synthesis/function and/or bypassing the conventional antibacterial resistance mechanisms (Khamenehn et al., 2019).…”