Antimycobacterial Natural Products in Tuberculosis Treatment
Summary
Tuberculosis remains a leading cause of infectious mortality worldwide, with rising multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains posing severe therapeutic challenges. Natural products derived from plants, fungi and other organisms offer a rich reservoir of structurally diverse compounds—such as alkaloids, terpenes, flavonoids and phenolics—that exhibit antimycobacterial activity via cell-wall disruption, enzyme inhibition and immunomodulation. Advances in extraction, isolation and structure elucidation have identified numerous bioactive scaffolds capable of reducing bacterial burden in vitro and in animal models. Strategies to enhance efficacy include formulation into nanoparticles for improved delivery to pulmonary sites and combination therapies that exploit synergistic interactions with first-line antitubercular agents. Although many leads remain at the preclinical stage, selected compounds demonstrate favourable selectivity indices and low toxicity, underscoring their potential to address resistance mechanisms and to shorten treatment regimens. Continued interdisciplinary research is critical to translate these natural scaffolds into clinical candidates, particularly in regions where access to conventional therapies is limited and traditional medicine remains an important healthcare resource.
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Antimycobacterial Natural Products in Tuberculosis Treatment publication trend
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Technical terms
Antimycobacterial: Capable of inhibiting or killing mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Phytochemicals: Bioactive secondary metabolites produced by plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenes.
Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC): The lowest concentration of an agent required to prevent visible growth of a microorganism in vitro.
Synergistic interaction: A combined effect of two agents that is greater than the sum of their individual effects on microbial inhibition.
Nanoformulation: A drug delivery system utilising nanoparticles to improve solubility, stability and targeted release of therapeutic compounds.
References
- Exploring Bioactive Phytomedicines for Advancing Pulmonary Infection Management: Insights and Future Prospects. Phytotherapy Research (2024).
- Medicinal Plants as Therapeutic Alternatives to Combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A Comprehensive Review. Antibiotics (2023).
- The Effect of Combining Natural Terpenes and Antituberculous Agents against Reference and Clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains. Molecules (2018).
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