Antimicrobial peptides

Abstract

For many years, attention has been focused on adaptive immunity as the main antimicrobial defense system. The discovery of antimicrobial peptides turned this point of view. In general, these peptides act on microorganisms directly by disrupting the structure of the microbial cytoplasmatic membranes and indirectly acting on immune system. This review provides an overview of some natural antimicrobial peptides and probability of their clinical usage.