Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant threat to human health globally. Diseases caused by AMR are getting more challenging to cure due to the increasing rate of resistance of microbial pathogens. Drugs formulated with antimicrobial peptide (AMP) can be applied to treat these diseases. AMPs are found naturally within organisms, especially amphibians, and is related to the high adaptability of defence mechanisms against various pathogens and predators in the environment. This review focuses on the current status of research works and the different approaches applied to stimulate and collect amphibian secretions, extract and identify peptides, and conduct antimicrobial assays. The concerns of AMR include human health, animal health, economy, and agriculture. This section provides an overview of the potential uses of AMPs from Malaysian amphibians, other than their anti-bacterial and antifungal properties. The exploration of AMP on other amphibian species and the recommended steps for protein/AMP profiling via mass spectrometry are also included.

The skin secretion of amphibians is known for its high content of bioactive compounds. These bioactive compounds are essential for the advancement of biomedical industries. Four wild green paddy frogs, Hylarana erythraea , were collected from various habitat types within the Langkawi Archipelago. These frogs’ skin secretions were collected, extracted, and analysed for their protein compounds together with biomedical potentials using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The total protein concentration of H. erythraea skin secretions was determined as 0.269 mg/mL. Based on the UniProt (Anura) database, we identified 29 proteins. These proteins were categorised as antimicrobial (AMP) (38%), followed by hormone (17%), enzyme (17%), unreviewed proteins (17%), structural proteins (7%), and regulatory proteins (4%). The AMPs identified were from the family of esculentin-1, esculentin-2, brevinin-1, and frenatin-4, while the hormones belonged to the cholecystokinin group. The enzymes detected were adenylate cyclase 9, the suppressor of tumorigenicity 14 protein homolog, and the HGF activator. The structural proteins belonged to toe pad keratin 2 and Krt5.7 proteins, while the single regulatory protein is CCR4-NOT transcription complex subunit 6-like. These proteins have a wide range of biomedical importance, such as wound healings, facilitate digestions, anti-tumours, and anti-cancer effect.

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Most of Malaysian’s anuran species are nocturnally active, including Pulchrana glandulosa. However, all the studies on the description of this species’ call were done during nocturnal surveys in Sarawak, Borneo. Here we report the diurnal call of this frog from Langkawi Island, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia. This male frog exhibits two types of calls: repetitive one-note advertisement calls and multiple-note response calls. Anuran bioacoustics can use to monitor the well-being of the environment they occupy. This information is very informative for the conservation management authority and decision-making for conservation purposes. The diurnal call of this frog is a rare discovery and was not yet described in previous records. This research shows us that this frog calls diurnally and nocturnally because its skin secretion has a high toxicity level. Besides that, this frog is well known for its loud “WAHK” call at night. However, the diurnal call is not as rare as one thinks; we need to know the specific spot at a specific time of occurrence. Furthermore, these surveys also need to be done diurnally to minimise the undetected species behaviour as in this study, which is essential for our scientific community.

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