Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles as Silver Lining in Antimicrobial Resistance: A Review.

Unprincipled use of antibiotics has led to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) against mostly available compounds, and has now become a major cause of concern for the scientific community. However, in the past decade, green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have received greater attention for the development of newer therapies as antimicrobials by virtue of their unique physico- chemical properties. Unlike traditional antibiotics, AgNPs exert their action by acting on multiple mechanisms, which make them potential candidates against AMR. Green synthesis of AgNPs using various medicinal plants has demonstrated a broader spectrum of action against several microbes in a number of attempts. The present paper provides an insight into the scientific studies that have elucidated the positive role of plant extracts/phytochemicals during the green synthesis of AgNPs and their future perspectives. The studies conducted so far seem promising; still, a few factors like the precise mechanism of action of AgNPs, their synergistic interaction with biomolecules, and industrial scalability, need to be explored further till effective drug development using green synthesized AgNPs in healthcare systems against AMR is established.

Demystifying therapeutic potential of medicinal plants against chikungunya virus.

Viral infections are posing a great threat to humanity for the last few years. Among these, Chikungunya which is a mosquito-borne viral infection has produced enormous epidemics around the world after been rebounded. Although this infection shows a low mortality rate, patients suffer from fever, arthralgia, and maculopapular rashes, which reduce the quality of life for several weeks to years. The currently available treatments only provide symptomatic relief based on analgesics, antipyretics, and anti-inflammatory drugs which are nonspecific without satisfactory results. Medicinal plants are a widely accepted source of new molecules for the treatment of infectious diseases including viral infections. The scientific reports, primarily focusing on the anti-chikungunya activity of plant extracts, natural origin pure compounds, and their synthetic analog published from 2011 to 2021, were selected from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus by using related keywords like anti-chikungunya plants, natural antivirals for Chikungunya. The present review decodes scientific reports on medicinal plants against chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection and demystifies the potential phytoconstituents which reveals that the screening of flavonoids containing plants and phytochemicals showing efficacy against other arbovirus infections, may prove as a potential lead for drug development against CHIKV. The present article also outlines pathogenesis, clinical aspects, molecular virology, and diagnostic approaches of CHIKV infection.