Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Some plant-derived substances have gained popularity recently, due to their versatility and range of applications (Ncube et al., 2008).However, the health benefi ts of herb and spice extracts have been discussed for centuries (Elgayyar et al., 2001).They have been used in many branches of industry such as medicine, pharmacy, cosmetology, and food production (Craig, 1999;Wallace, 2004).Herbs and spices are a very rich source of bioactive compounds such as vitamins, micro-and macroelements, glycosides, alkaloids, tannins, essential oils, fl avonoids, antracompounds, phenols, coumarin, organic acids, and saponins.Examples of compounds belonging to the particular groups, and their associated health benefi ts and potential industrial applications are presented in Table 1 (Skarżyński, 1994).The antimicrobial activity of plant extracts is an important issue in dealing with the antibiotic resistance of microorganisms.Bacteria have the genetic ability to transmit and acquire resistance to drugs, so the rapid development of the pharmacological industries in the last three decades has caused increased resistance to drugs by microorganisms.As a consequence, new diseases have developed and, especially in immuno-compromised patients, resulted in high mortality.Therefore, in order to keep this problem under control, it is necessary to limit the use of antibiotics and research the mechanisms of genetic resistance in bacteria in order to develop new drugs, especially those of natural origin (Gislene et al., 2000).In order to investigate the bacterial growthinhibiting properties of plant derivatives, bacteria
Authors: Katarzyna B. Leja, Katarzyna Czaczyk
Institution: Poznań University of Life Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2561534460