Abstract
Medicinal plants have always been part of human culture and have the potential to cure different diseases caused by microorganisms. In Pakistan, biologists are mainly focusing on plants’ antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli due to its increasing resistance to antibiotics. In total, extracts from 34 ethnomedicinally valuable Pakistani plants were reported for in-vitro anti-E. coli activities. Mostly methanolic extracts of medicinal plants were used in different studies, which have shown comparatively higher inhibitory activities against E. coli than n-hexane and aqueous extracts. It has been found that increasing concentration (mg/ml) of methanolic extract can significantly increase (p < 0.01) anti-E. coli activities. Not all medicinal plants are extracted in solvents others than above, which should also be tested against E. coli. Moreover, medicinal plant species must be fully explored phytochemically, which may lead to the development of new drugs.
Highlights
Therapeutic properties of medicinal plants are well recognized at global level [1]
World Health Organization has emphasized on the use of traditional medicines and reported about 80% of population from developing countries relies on medicinal plants for their primary health care [3,4]
This study is the combination of anti-E. coli activities, ethnomedicinal properties and phytochemistry of reported medicinal plants that were collected from the available literature
Summary
Therapeutic properties of medicinal plants are well recognized at global level [1]. As an estimate, over 50% of modern clinical drugs have natural products’ origin [2]. World Health Organization has emphasized on the use of traditional medicines and reported about 80% of population from developing countries relies on medicinal plants for their primary health care [3,4]. It is believed that more than 8,000 plants species in South Asia carries medicinal properties, of which 1000 exists in Pakistan [5]. Local people use these medicinal plants for the treatment of various ailments through their indigenous knowledge [6]. Due to modernization, traditional medicines are only practiced in remote rural areas [7,8]
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