Plant-derived drug molecules as antibacterial agents

Abstract

With the advent of time, many microbial strains have developed resistance against various antibiotics. The treatment of infectious diseases gets more difficult when the bacteria form multidrug-resistant biofilms. Bacteria like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes are capable of forming biofilm in vitro and cause several chronic infections like inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, catheter infection, and listeriosis. As these microorganisms are difficult to eliminate with antibiotics, there is an insistent need for alternative sources of antimicrobial therapies. Plants are one of the major sources of chemical compounds with higher therapeutic potential since many years. A large spectrum of plant-derived compounds and their secondary metabolites have antimicrobial activity and are being widely studied for their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. This chapter focuses on the various antibacterial properties of these plant-derived compounds and their activity alone or in combination with other compounds or antibiotics as possible antibacterial agents. It also focuses on the nanoencapsulation of these compounds to improve their bioavailability.