Antimicrobial Potency of Plant Species: A Review

Abstract

Aims: Applications of herbal medicine extracts as antimicrobials agents in human health and food protection as well as the analysis methods of the novel compounds, biosynthesis, and genetic regulation of them are describing in this work. According to the increasing prevalence of the antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, the alternative source of antibiotic production is necessary to replace. Plants are a valuable source in various secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, and terpenoids which have shown some inhibitory effect on different microorganisms. Nowadays, herbal medicines are finding their way into pharmaceuticals. There are several well-known drugs that are derived from plants used for different diseases and were top-selling pharmaceuticals in the world. ‘Thymol’ is a strong disinfectant from ‘Thyme’ for treating of edema and bronchospasm, ‘morphine’ which comes from ‘Papaver somniferum’, the powerful pain-killer, ‘L-dopa’ from ‘Mucuna deeringiana’ using as a cardiotonic, ‘taxol’ from the bark of ‘Taxus brevifolia’ as an anti-cancerous and ‘Rutin’ from ‘Orange’ using to treat sedation. In conclusion, plant medicine extracts have used in ancient medicine from several years ago, so identification of them and their compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against diseases and according to this potential, need further work to approve reliability. Study Design and Methodology: A review of the literature from the pioneering study of 2005 until 2015. Place and Duration of Study: Pharmaceutics Research Centre (PRC), Institute of Neuro-pharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran between June 2014 and July 2015. Conclusion: Plant medicine extracts have used in ancient medicine from several years ago, so identification of them and their compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against diseases and according to this potential, need further work to approve reliability.