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Review
. 2022 Nov 8:13:1039297.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1039297. eCollection 2022.

Recent advances on the regulation of bacterial biofilm formation by herbal medicines

Meimei Zhang  1 , Wenyu Han  1   2 , Jingmin Gu  1   2 , Cao Qiu  1 , Qiujie Jiang  3 , Jianbao Dong  4 , Liancheng Lei  1 , Fengyang Li  1
Affiliations
Review

Recent advances on the regulation of bacterial biofilm formation by herbal medicines

Meimei Zhang et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Biofilm formation is a fundamental part of life cycles of bacteria which affects various aspects of bacterial-host interactions including the development of drug resistance and chronic infections. In clinical settings, biofilm-related infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to tolerance to antibiotics. Bacterial biofilm formation is regulated by different external and internal factors, among which quorum sensing (QS) signals and nucleotide-based second messengers play important roles. In recent years, different kinds of anti-biofilm agents have been discovered, among which are the Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs). CHMs or traditional Chinese medicines have long been utilized to combat various diseases around the world and many of them have the ability to inhibit, impair or decrease bacterial biofilm formation either through regulation of bacterial QS system or nucleotide-based second messengers. In this review, we describe the research progresses of different chemical classes of CHMs on the regulation of bacterial biofilm formation. Though the molecular mechanisms on the regulation of bacterial biofilm formation by CHMs have not been fully understood and there are still a lot of work that need to be performed, these studies contribute to the development of effective biofilm inhibitors and will provide a novel treatment strategy to control biofilm-related infections.

Keywords: anti-biofilm agents; biofilm formation; quorum sensing; second messenger; traditional Chinese medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A typical biofilm cycle and the strategies to control biofilm formation. A typical biofilm formation consists of five stages: (i) reversible attachment to surface; (ii) irreversible attachment to surface; (iii) microcolony formation; (iv) maturation of biofilm; and (v) biofilm dispersal. Strategies for combating bacterial biofilms are classified into three main categories: (i) changing the properties of susceptible surfaces to prevent biofilm formation; (ii) regulating signaling pathways to inhibit biofilm formation; and (iii) applying external forces to eradicate the biofilm, which are displayed in light blue rectangles. Strategies discussed in this review are presented in bold. Lines with arrow head, positive regulation; Lines with stops, negative regulation. This figure was created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of the different flavonoids that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structures of the different terpenoids that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structures of the different phenols that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical structures of the different organic acids that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structures of the different alkaloids that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Chemical structures of other compounds that inhibit biofilm formation via QS. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Chemical structures of the compounds that inhibit biofilm formation via second messengers (−related) signaling pathways. ChemDraw software has been utilized to draw the chemical structures of the molecules.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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