Plant Mediated Green Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles for Applications in Medicine

Abstract

The infectious diseases are one of the leading causes of death of children, adolescents and olds worldwide. Antimicrobial agents are commonly used to kill or inhibit the growth of these microorganisms. To date, herbal medicines are in great demand because of their efficacy, safety and fewer adverse effects as compared with prevailing antibiotics. However, a big challenge is to deliver the herbal formulations in a sustained manner to the infected region at the lowest effective level. Besides the development of alarming resistance of microbes towards antimicrobial agents is a major global public health problem. Nanomaterials seems to be effective alternative antimicrobials to combat such resistant bugs. Various physio-chemical methods have been employed for nanometal synthesis. Biosynthesis of nanometals using different parts of plants is now an emerging field of research in order to overcome the high cost and to minimize the use of hazardous chemicals in the traditional methods of synthesis. The nanometals synthesized using different parts of plants have been proven to be effective antibacterial agents. This review will describe the recent advancement in the green synthesis of nanometals using different parts of various plants and their antibacterial efficacy.