Antimicrobial natural products against bacterial biofilms

Abstract

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become the major problem that scientists have to deal with. Pathogenic microorganisms responsible for human, animal, and plant diseases are acquiring resistance due to the inadequate use of antimicrobial drugs. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms adhered to a solid surface and encased in an exopolysaccharide matrix. These cells acquire a number of advantages, such as an increased resistance to antimicrobial agents that makes it difficult to eliminate them. There is an urgent need to discover new antimicrobial substances unable to generate resistance in microorganisms. Plants constitute natural sources of compounds and essential oils; terpenes and extracts obtained from them have been documented to exert antibiofilm and antiquorum sensing activity. The obtaining and identification of plant-derived products are important steps in the development of new active compounds. The extraction of bioactive compounds can be made using different protocols depending on the chemical characteristics of the bioactive compounds of interest. Bioactive plant-derived products would be an interesting natural therapeutic alternative capable of eliminating biofilm without encouraging resistance.