Narrative synthesis on the antibacterial properties of plants from the apocynaceae family that can be found in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Mago, Melice Mei Del Moro, Martinez, Jasmine Rose Colico
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Apocynaceae > Philippines; Metabolites; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_bio/48; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdb_bio/article/1037/viewcontent/2023_Mago_Martinez_Narrative_Synthesis_on_the_Antibacterial_Properties_of_Plants_Full_text.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Natural products are not only important because of their ethnobotanical applications but are also significant as they can be developed into pharmaceutical products. Apocynaceae is one of the largest angiosperm families, with about 3700 species in 424 genera. It is distributed around the world but is more diverse in tropical regions. Plants under this family have been found to be effective against several pathogenic bacteria. This activity is usually associated with growth inhibitory properties. In the Philippines, however, there is a lack of comprehensive plant family-specific information. The study aimed to provide a narrative synthesis reporting the antibacterial properties of Apocynaceae plants based on published journal articles. The study revealed that 33 plants belonging to the Apocynaceae family, are predominantly found in Luzon, the largest (104 688 km2) island of the Philippine archipelago. Previous works showed that the Apocynaceae plants exhibiting antibacterial properties are abundant in the secondary metabolites, flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponins, which were mostly identified through qualitative tests. Their antibacterial mechanisms were generally reported to entail disruptions in bacterial cell membranes and cell walls, bacterial nucleic acid and protein synthesis, and bacterial metabolism. Calotropis gigantea (L.) Dryland was found to have the most secondary metabolites, while Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br. was found to have the ability to inhibit the most bacterial species. Based on the journal articles examined, Staphylococcus aureus was one of the most widely used bacteria that was tested and was also found to be highly susceptible to the plants studied. This work is relevant because it provides valuable information on plants belonging to the Apocynaceae family that can be explored further for future research.