A Review on Ethanobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants Available in North-East India against Microbes Involved in Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic metabolic disorders, which are occurring across the globe with several complications affecting different systems of the body. One of the most devastating complications of diabetes mellitus is a diabetic foot ulcer. With the global occurrence of 6.3%, diabetic foot ulcers are commonly caused due to the severe infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella species, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Proteus species and filamentous fungi such as Candida sp and Fusarium solani. Till date, medicinal plants have been traditionally used to treat several human infections. There are plants such as Santalum album, Jasminum officinale, Bergenia ciliata, and Cinnamomum tamala, which have variable antimicrobial activities. They are potentially active against microorganisms such as S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, E. coli, Klebsiella sp., and Proteus sp., which are commonly found in several human infections. Further investigations can be done to introduce the effect of various medicinal plants that can act against the microorganisms associated with diabetic foot ulcers and inhibit their growth. Northeast India being a large reservoir of diverse medicinal plants can be explored for the discovery of newer antibacterial bioactive molecules that can inhibit the growth of such microorganisms, thereby developing nature-based treatment methods which will reduce the high cost of treating diabetic foot ulcers.