Natural Plant Products with Potential Antimicrobial Activity

The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years. Ethno pharmacologists, botanists, microbiologists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and “leads” which could be developed for treatment of infectious diseases. While 25 to 50% of current pharmaceuticals are derived from plants. Traditional healers have long used plants to prevent or cure infectious conditions; Western medicine is trying to duplicate their successes. Plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites, such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. This review attempts to summarize the current status of botanical screening efforts, as well as in vivo studies of their effectiveness and toxicity. The structure and antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals viz; Simple phenols and phenolic acids (spp.2) Quinones (spp.3) Flavones, flavonoids, and flavonol (spp.3), Tannins (spp.7) coumarins, (spp.1), Terpenoids and Essential Oils (spp.19), Alkaloids (spp.9) Lectins and polypeptides (spp.5) ,mixture (spp.4), other compounds (spp.1) and new antimicrobial plant origins (spp.7) are also addressed. Since many of these compounds are currently available as unregulated botanical preparations and their use by the public is increasing rapidly, clinicians need to consider the consequences of patients self-medicating with these preparations.