Antimicrobial activity of plant constituents

Abstract

For a long period of time, plants have been a good source of natural products and chemicals for maintaining human health and for treatment of some illness. It is known and proved by in vitro experiments that numerous chemicals isolated from plants possess antimicrobial activity. Those substances belong to the different chemical classes: terpenoids and essential oils, triterpenoids and triterpenoidal saponins, steroidal saponins, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, alkaloids, flavonoids, quinones, polyols, tannins, simple phenols, phenocarboxylic acids, coumarines, lignans, lectines, proteins, fatty acids, sugars etc. The potential for developing those substances to the antibiotic remedies is not so big and powerful. But chemical compounds isolated from natural sources could be inspiration for new drugs. Besides, natural products (substance) with weak antibacterial activity could be combined; the effect of those mixtures is better than after application of each product (substance) alone. Many compounds of plant origin have been identified that inhibit different stage in the replication cycle of human immunodeficiency virus. The main information are given in this text. There is no lot of herbal remedies, at the market, labeled as herbal antibiotics. Herbs and herbal drugs containing substances with antimicrobial activity are mainly declared as antiseptics and can be used for treatment of oral and different condition of upper respiratory tract, urinary tract, skin etc.