Artificial Intelligence Applied to Improve Scientific Reviews: The Antibacterial Activity of Cistus Plants as Proof of Concept

Abstract

Reviews have traditionally been based on extensive searches of the available bibliography on the topic of interest. However, this approach is frequently influenced by the authors’ background, leading to possible selection bias. Artificial intelligence applied to natural language processing (NLP) is a powerful tool that can be used for systematic reviews by speeding up the process and providing more objective results, but its use in scientific literature reviews is still scarce. This manuscript addresses this challenge by developing a reproducible tool that can be used to develop objective reviews on almost every topic. This tool has been used to review the antibacterial activity of Cistus genus plant extracts as proof of concept, providing a comprehensive and objective state of the art on this topic based on the analysis of 1601 research manuscripts and 136 patents. Data were processed using a publicly available Jupyter Notebook in Google Collaboratory here. NLP, when applied to the study of antibacterial activity of Cistus plants, is able to recover the main scientific manuscripts and patents related to the topic, avoiding any biases. The NLP-assisted literature review reveals that C. creticus and C. monspeliensis are the first and second most studied Cistus species respectively. Leaves and fruits are the most commonly used plant parts and methanol, followed by butanol and water, the most widely used solvents to prepare plant extracts. Furthermore, Staphylococcus. aureus followed by Bacillus. cereus are the most studied bacterial species, which are also the most susceptible bacteria in all studied assays. This new tool aims to change the actual paradigm of the review of scientific literature to make the process more efficient, reliable, and reproducible, according to Open Science standards.

In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Properties and Bioaccessibility after Oral Digestion of Chemically Characterized Extracts Obtained from Cistus × incanus L., Scutellaria lateriflora L., and Their Combination

“…Oral biofilm protects bacteria from counteraction by the host's immune system and antibacterial agents in vivo. Furthermore, cells embedded in biofilm are more resistant to antibiotic treatment as the virulence factors produced by P. gingivalis are contained within the biofilm, such as fimbriae, hemagglutinins, and proteinases [44]. The results obtained support previous investigations showing the…”

Mediterranean Plants with Antimicrobial Activity against Staphylococcus aureus, a Meta-Analysis for Green Veterinary Pharmacology Applications

“…It has been traditionally used for various therapeutic purposes, including its potential antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus [ 131 ]. While there is limited specific research available on the antibacterial activity of Cistus monspeliensis against Staphylococcus aureus , other species of the Cistus genus have been studied for their antimicrobial properties [ 132 ]. The antimicrobial activity of Cistus species is believed to be attributed to their bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins, that are effective antibacterial agents [ 133 ].…”

Successive Solvent Extraction of Polyphenols and Flavonoids from Cistus creticus L. Leaves

“…Specifically, aerial parts of the plant such as leaves, flowers, and seeds have been used for medicinal purposes, as sitz bath, infusion, decoction, even as powder mixed with foods such as honey [21]. The genus Cistus has many species, including Cistus creticus, C. monspeliensis, C. incanus, and C. ladanifer [22]. C. creticus L. is one of the Cistus species that has a high content in polyphenolic compounds and therefore exhibits high antioxidant activity [23].…”