Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 Feb;131(2):111-20.
doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2007.09.008. Epub 2007 Nov 5.

Antiviral potentials of medicinal plants

Muhammad Mukhtar  1 , Mohammad Arshad, Mahmood Ahmad, Roger J Pomerantz, Brian Wigdahl, Zahida Parveen
Affiliations
Review

Antiviral potentials of medicinal plants

Muhammad Mukhtar et al. Virus Res. 2008 Feb.

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been widely used to treat a variety of infectious and non-infectious ailments. According to one estimate, 25% of the commonly used medicines contain compounds isolated from plants. Several plants could offer a rich reserve for drug discovery of infectious diseases, particularly in an era when the latest separation techniques are available on one hand, and the human population is challenged by a number of emerging infectious diseases on the other hand. Among several other ailments, viral infections, particularly infections associated with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and 2 (HIV-2), and newly emerging infectious viruses have challenged mankind survival. Of importance, a variety of medicinal plants have shown promise to treat a number of viral infections, and some of them possess broad-spectrum antiviral activity. In the past, exploration into the antiviral activity of various promising medicinal plants was limited due to: (a) highly infectious nature of viruses and (b) lack of appropriate separation techniques for the identification of antiviral components from plants. Development of vector-based strategies, in which non-infectious molecular clone of a virus could be used for antiviral screening purposes, and advancement in separation technologies offers promise for medicinal plants usage in modern drug discovery. This article describes potential antiviral properties of medicinal plants against a diverse group of viruses, and suggests screening the potential of plants possessing broad-spectrum antiviral effects against emerging viral infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
HIV life cycle and potential antiviral targets.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ahmad I., Aqil F., Owais M. 1st ed. Wiley-VCH, Verlag GmbH & Co; KGaA, Weinheim: 2007. Modern Phytomedicine: Turning Medicinal Plants into Drugs.
    1. Andrighetti-Frohner C.R., Sincero T.C., da Silva A.C., Savi L.A., Gaido C.M., Bettega J.M., Mancini M., de Almeida M.T., Barbosa R.A., Farias M.R., Barardi C.R., Simoes C.M. Antiviral evaluation of plants from Brazilian Atlantic Tropical Forest. Fitoterapia. 2005;76(3/4):374–378. - PubMed
    1. Anon Traditional Medicine & HIV/AIDS in Africa. A report from the international conference on medicinal plants, traditional medicine & local communities in Africa. A Parallel Session to the Fifth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity; Nairobi, Kenya, May 16–19, 2000; 2000. - PubMed
    1. Anon., 2005a. Medicinal plants—time to harness the potential of neglected genetic resources? Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization. http://www.cabipublishing.org/pgr.
    1. Anon., 2005b. A Practical Guide to Herbal Therapies for People Living with HIV. Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE).

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

-