Essential Oils and Future Antibiotics: New Weapons against Emerging‘Superbugs’?

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is emerging at an alarming rate, outpacing current research and development efforts to combat this trend. As a result, many infectious diseases have become difficult to treat; in some cases, no treatment options exist. The search for new antibiotics must accelerate to avoid returning to the 'pre-antibiotic' era. Ancient remedies, including essential oils and their components, have been explored on a limited basis as a source of new antimicrobials. Many are known to possess significant antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microorganisms. Elucidation of the mechanism of action of these compounds may lead to identification new antibiotic targets. Such targets, once identified, may represent biosynthetic or regulatory pathways not currently inhibited by available drugs. Novel drugs and targets are vital for continued control of infectious diseases worldwide.

Using Essential Oils to Combat the Threat of Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

“…It is then that medicinal oils extracted from a variety of plants were first recorded as the treatment for various human maladies [1,2]. Today, antibiotics, synthetically produced or naturally occurring chemicals, are amongst the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world, effective in treating pathogenic bacterial infections.…”

“…Essential oils are contained within granular cells of a variety of plant's components including seeds, bark, roots, leaves, flowers, wood, balsam and resin; these parts are all responsible for the particular smell and flavor associated with each plant [14]. Essential oils are extracted from aromatic medicinal plants using conventional techniques such as distillation [2]. The composition of essential oils was determined to be complex mixtures of chemicals including various alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, ethers, ketones, phenols and oxides [2].…”

“…Essential oils are extracted from aromatic medicinal plants using conventional techniques such as distillation [2]. The composition of essential oils was determined to be complex mixtures of chemicals including various alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, ethers, ketones, phenols and oxides [2]. Honey is commonly used in wound dressing because of its reputation for having antibacterial properties [11].…”

“…Methylglyoxal and cinnamaldehyde both contain functional group aldehyde, which is known to be responsible for the antibacterial properties of some essential oils. The antimicrobial activity of essential oils and their components is likely due to their ability to inhibit or interact with multiple targets of the cell, including their membranes and cytoplasmic structures [2]. Their hydrophobic properties facilitate their penetration into cell membranes causing the alteration to the structure of membranes as well as leakage of cell contents and sometimes completely change the morphology of the organism's cells [1,2].…”

“…Due to the development of antibiotics mortality rates by these diseases and other bacterial infectious diseases have been significantly reduced while dramatically increasing human life expectancy. For that reason, scientists and medical professionals alike, consider antibiotics as one of the most revolutionary developments in human history [2,5].…”