A global perspective on medicinal plants and phytochemicals with antiviral potentials in the respiratory system

Drug development has a great deal to gain from the therapeutic and preventative actions of medicinal plants and their derivatives. In order to introduce active medicinal herbs and phytochemicals against viral infections of the respiratory system, we tried to focus on a vast amount of data. From 2000 to the present, articles from Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Google Scholar were taken into consideration. A combination of respiratory viral infection with keywords of medicinal plants, phytochemicals, flavonoids, saponins, phenolics, terpenoids, alkaloids, and natural products has been used, as well as keywords of antiviral medicinal plants, and antiviral phytochemicals. Pure antiviral compounds and plants with activity against viruses other than respiratory viruses were disregarded and excluded from consideration. More than eighty phytochemicals and sixty herbs that were subjected to in vitro and in vivo investigations were documented. The current study collects information on multiple medicinal plants, including Camellia sinensis, Sambucus nigra, Pelargonium sidoides, Echinacea purpurea, and Glycyrrhiza glabra, which have been shown to have effective antiviral properties through experimental research. The main antiviral phytochemicals were terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids. Additionally, chemicals including resveratrol, quercetin, chlorogenic acid, amentoflavone A, biochanin, and glycyrrhizin demonstrated efficacy against many viral infections. For the management of viral infections, the current review on the development of novel antiviral medications is strongly advised. It also provides a possibility to discover anti-Covid-19 lead compounds and can offer supportive treatment in this pandemic situation.