An Attention towards the Prophylactic and Therapeutic Options of Phytochemicals for SARS-CoV-2: A Molecular Insight

Abstract

The novel pathogenic virus was discovered in Wuhan, China (December 2019), and quickly spread throughout the world. Further analysis revealed that the pathogenic strain of virus was corona but it was distinct from other coronavirus strains, and thus it was renamed 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2. This coronavirus shares many characteristics with other coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The clinical manifestations raised in the form of a cytokine storm trigger a complicated spectrum of pathophysiological changes that include cardiovascular, kidney, and liver problems. The lack of an effective treatment strategy has imposed a health and socio-economic burden. Even though the mortality rate of patients with this disease is lower, since it is judged to be the most contagious, it is considered more lethal. Globally, the researchers are continuously engaged to develop and identify possible preventive and therapeutic regimens for the management of disease. Notably, to combat SARS-CoV-2, various vaccine types have been developed and are currently being tested in clinical trials; these have also been used as a health emergency during a pandemic. Despite this, many old antiviral and other drugs (such as chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, corticosteroids, and so on) are still used in various countries as emergency medicine. Plant-based products have been reported to be safe as alternative options for several infectious and non-infectious diseases, as many of them showed chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects in the case of tuberculosis, cancer, malaria, diabetes, cardiac problems, and others. Therefore, plant-derived products may play crucial roles in improving health for a variety of ailments by providing a variety of effective cures. Due to current therapeutic repurposing efforts against this newly discovered virus, we attempted to outline many plant-based compounds in this review to aid in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.

Impact of Geographical Conditions on Phenolic and Flavonoid Contents and Antioxidant Activity of Different Extracts of Ajuga iva

“…Phytochemicals play a pivotal role in plant protection and pollinator attraction (Wani et al, 2022). They gained huge attention from the scientific community thanks to their biological functionalities, especially antioxidant abilities (Shoaib et al, 2023). Several studies have unveiled a remarkable contribution of phytochemicals to antioxidant abilities, which could be explained by the high correlation between polyphenolic compounds and total antioxidant capacity (Ferreyra et al, 2020;Mukhtar et al, 2023;Stefaniak et al, 2020).…”

Cellular, Molecular, Pharmacological, and Nano-Formulation Aspects of Thymoquinone—A Potent Natural Antiviral Agent

“…On the other hand, black seed supplementation has a chelating role in patients with sickle cell anemia and inhibits human heme metabolism. Furthermore, N. sativa and its active constituent TQ inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 [ 97 ], as well as the expression of members of the TRP-gene family (NCT04553705) [ 98 ]. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, and antimicrobial effects are all found in TQ [ 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 ].…”

Potential Pharmacological Applications of Nigella Seeds with a Focus on Nigella sativa and Its Constituents against Chronic Inflammatory Diseases: Progress and Future Opportunities

“…This illness's causative agent has been Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 has since disseminated globally, precipitating a substantial epidemic and posing significant obstacles to global healthcare systems [182][183][184].…”