Borges Anabela, Abreu Ana Cristina, Dias Carla, Saavedra Maria José, Borges Fernanda, Simões Manuel
LEPABE, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, Porto 4200-465, Portugal.
CIQUP, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, Porto 4169-007, Portugal.
Molecules. 2016 Jul 5;21(7):877. doi: 10.3390/molecules21070877.
The majority of current infectious diseases are almost untreatable by conventional antibiotic therapy given the advent of multidrug-resistant bacteria. The degree of severity and the persistence of infections are worsened when microorganisms form biofilms. Therefore, efforts are being applied to develop new drugs not as vulnerable as the current ones to bacterial resistance mechanisms, and also able to target bacteria in biofilms. Natural products, especially those obtained from plants, have proven to be outstanding compounds with unique properties, making them perfect candidates for these much-needed therapeutics. This review presents the current knowledge on the potentialities of plant products as antibiotic adjuvants to restore the therapeutic activity of drugs. Further, the difficulties associated with the use of the existing antibiotics in the treatment of biofilm-related infections are described. To counteract the biofilm resistance problems, innovative strategies are suggested based on literature data. Among the proposed strategies, the use of phytochemicals to inhibit or eradicate biofilms is highlighted. An overview on the use of phytochemicals to interfere with bacterial quorum sensing (QS) signaling pathways and underlying phenotypes is provided. The use of phytochemicals as chelating agents and efflux pump inhibitors is also reviewed.
鉴于多重耐药细菌的出现，目前大多数传染病几乎无法通过传统抗生素疗法进行治疗。当微生物形成生物膜时，感染的严重程度和持续性会加剧。因此，人们正在努力开发新型药物，使其不像现有药物那样容易受到细菌耐药机制的影响，并且能够靶向生物膜中的细菌。天然产物，尤其是从植物中获得的天然产物，已被证明是具有独特性质的杰出化合物，使其成为这些急需的治疗药物的理想候选者。本综述介绍了关于植物产品作为抗生素佐剂以恢复药物治疗活性的潜力的当前知识。此外，还描述了在治疗生物膜相关感染中使用现有抗生素所面临的困难。为了应对生物膜耐药问题，根据文献数据提出了创新策略。在所提出的策略中，突出了使用植物化学物质抑制或根除生物膜的方法。还提供了关于使用植物化学物质干扰细菌群体感应（QS）信号通路及其潜在表型的概述。同时也对植物化学物质作为螯合剂和外排泵抑制剂的用途进行了综述。
