COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VARIOUS MEDICINAL SYSTEMS

Abstract

The war on multidrug resistance
(MDR) has resulted in the greatest loss to the
world’s economy. Antibiotics, the bedrock,
and wonder drug of the 20th century have
played a central role in treating infectious
diseases. However, the inappropriate,
irregular, and irrational uses of antibiotics
have resulted in the emergence of
antimicrobial resistance. This has resulted in
an increased interest in medicinal plants since
30–50% of current pharmaceuticals and
nutraceuticals are plant-derived. The question
we address in this review is whether plants,
which produce a rich diversity of secondary
metabolites, may provide novel antibiotics to
tackle MDR microbes and novel
chemosensitizers to reclaim currently used
antibiotics that have been rendered ineffective
by the MDR microbes. Plants synthesize
secondary metabolites and phytochemicals and
have great potential to act as therapeutics. The
main focus of this mini-review is to highlight
the potential benefits of plant derived multiple
compounds and the importance of
phytochemicals for the development of
biocompatible therapeutics. In addition, this
review focuses on the diverse effects and
efficacy of herbal compounds in controlling
the development of MDR in microbes and
hopes to inspire research into unexplored
plants with a view to identify novel antibiotics
for global health benefits.