Going beyond antibiotics: Natural plant extracts as an emergent strategy to combat biofilm-associated infections

Biofilms are a collective of multiple types of bacteria that develop on a variety of surfaces. Biofilm development results in heightened resistance to antibiotics. Quorum sensing plays an important role in biofilm development as it is one of the common communication mechanisms within cells, which balances and stabilizes the environment, when the amount of bacteria increases. It is crucial to investigate natural antibacterial agents that are capable to regulate biofilm formation and development due to huge implications of biofilms in infectious diseases. Various evidences have suggested that natural plant products have the potential to suppress bacterial growth and exhibit chemo-preventive traits in modulation of biofilm development. This review summarizes the latest studies regarding the exploration and investigation of anti-biofilm agents from natural resources such as plants or herbs with distinguishable mechanisms or identified bioactive ingredients. Besides, this review focuses on anti-biofilm therapeutics that are undergoing clinical analysis.