An Overview of Antibacterial Materials: Plants, Polymers and Nanoparticles

With the change in human lifestyle due to the expansion of industry, climate change, deforestation, and pollution of oceans and surface waters, humans are more exposed to danger than ever before. In many countries, humans are affected by bacterial and fungal infections and even mosquito-related diseases such as lymphatic filariasis, malaria, and cellulitis. Many drugs are found in nature, which is why humans have been using plants as a valuable resource for thousands of years. Humans are extremely interested in using natural antibacterial compounds such as plant extracts and spices because they have their own characteristic flavor. Herbs were the basis of medicine in the past and also are widely used in countries such as China, India, and the Middle East. Plants are useful for supporting human health and some parts of the plant (flowers, leaves, stems, and roots) have medicinal activities such as analgesics, antispasmodics, and antimicrobials. With recent advances, polymers and nanoparticles have come to the help of medical cures. Polymers can be designed to be used in a variety of fields such as prosthesis, antibacterial and antifungal surfaces, drug carrier, gene delivery etc. Also, the nanoparticles due to their unique properties, have many applications in medicine such as cancer diagnosis, colorimetric detection of cancer cells, cancer imaging, antibacterial surfaces, and drug carrier. In this study, researches which have been conducted on plants, polymers, and nanoparticles antibacterial are reviewed.