Plant-Based Remedies for Antiviral Treatment|Antiviral Potential of Plants against COVID-19 during

 Plant-Based Remedies for Antiviral Treatment

About this Research

Viral infection, Antiviral drug, Plant-based antiviral therapeutics, Antiviral plants, Coronavirus

One of the most pressing problems in the field of public health today is viral infection. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), herpes simplex, dengue virus, ebola virus, and influenza virus infections have occasionally prompted widespread concern. Above all, the most recent coronavirus disease pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19) brought on by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced a remarkable scare owing to the enormous loss of life and destruction of livelihood, endangering the economy and health security on a local as well as worldwide scale.

Many antiviral medications or drug combinations are already available to treat these illnesses (except COVID-19, as yet). However, these medicines have limitations such poor antiviral activity, genotype-dependent efficacy, side effects, and the development of drug-resistant mutants, which are the key barriers to reaching the desired result in this sector.

In the past, medicinal plants and natural remedies have served as the backbone of healthcare systems and have played a significant role in shaping human culture all over the world. Eventually, a few of these traditional plant products provided us with crucial information that helped us design and create the majority of the medications included in the current pharmacopoeia. The plant world is, in fact, a priceless repository of innumerable phytochemicals with distinctive stereochemical profiles that open up promising therapeutic opportunities. It also offers distinctive core structures or scaffolds useful for designing and developing new pharmacological molecules. In fact, over the past three decades, roughly 50% of the clinically approved pharmaceutical agents have come from Nature, either directly or indirectly. These natural secondary metabolites, primarily derived from plants, were "pre-screened" as they evolved through their natural metabolic transformation. As a result, the physiological system assimilates therapeutic substances derived from plant products very positively, giving them a clear advantage over pharmaceuticals made of synthetic materials. It follows that it is reasonable that the population in developing countries continues to receive assistance from time-honored herbal prescriptions for their essential medical needs; even in wealthy countries, there has been a noticeable upsurge in interest in plant-based medications. Therefore, with the huge progress in science and technology at our disposal, a strategic approach to battling viral infections in the twenty-first century would be to investigate empirical records of traditional practises preserved in ethnopharmacological cultures all over the world.

In the meantime, a number of plant-based derivatives or analogues, including silymarin, andrographolide, quercetin, curcumin, calanolide, and betulinic acid, have previously shown considerable antiviral effectiveness, either on their own or in combination with other conventional therapeutic treatments. Additionally, a large number of plant species with putative antiviral properties remain unexplored because only a small subset of those plants have undergone thorough research in this area. Therefore, it is imperative to maximise these natural resources on a war footing before they are regrettably further depleted from the earth by conducting systematic research using contemporary drug discovery tools. For instance, new developments in formulation and delivery methods based on nanoparticles may be successfully used to the long-term development of medicinal natural products.

In order to facilitate molecular design and lead discovery, the pharmaceutical industry is currently researching chemo-informatics-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. A computer model that has been trained on synthetic compounds is expected to be able to produce bioactive phytochemical prototypes with a focus on coronavirus to fight viral illnesses. So, for the de novo design and synthesis of new chemical entities, the properties of a pharmacologically active natural substance might be put into a deep neural network. Together, the hopeful results of the international effort to move plant-based antiviral treatments from "bench to bedside" are certain to spur scientists to make a significant advancement soon.

1-We encourage original research, reviews, mini-reviews, methods, and opinion pieces in this research topic that touch on, but are not limited to, the following subtopics:

2-Potential antiviral metabolites and phytochemicals from medicinal plants that have broad-spectrum antiviral activity (including Coronavirus).

3-Techniques for isolating, evaluating, and screening new plant compounds with antiviral properties.

4-formulations of traditional or multi-herbal medicines made from unprocessed plant parts or extracts that may have antiviral properties.

 5-Synthetic phytochemical derivatives or analogues with potential antiviral or synergistic properties.

 6-Systems for delivering antiviral plant products based on nanoparticles.

7-Utilizing plant compounds as adjuvants in addition to conventional antiviral therapies

8-The use of plant products in clinical settings to treat viral infections.

9-Future directions for study of medicinal plants' antiviral properties.

In this study, only plant extracts with standardised chemical elements and herbal products with clearly specified compositions will be taken into consideration.