Natural drugs for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses infections (SARS-CoV and COVID-19): a complete review of in vitro, in vivo, in silico, and clinical studies

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has devastated the world, causing the deaths of tens of thousands people. This disease is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). So far, no vaccine or treatment could be properly developed. This chapter examined all the works that have reported experimental results on the treatment of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections using natural bioactive molecules. Findings were presented in a very clear and detailed way based on the relationship that exists between successful applications of these natural drugs against the two SARS coronaviruses. Scutettaria baicalensis, Urtica dioica, Psoralea corylifolia, Radix Polygoni multiflori, Allium sativum L., and Nigella sativa are promising plants for the treatment of COVID-19. The two herbal formulas Lianhuaqingwen and Qingfei Paidu have also attracted interests. Other plants containing lectins, flavonoids, baicalin, scutellarein, myricetin, and herbacetin can be considered as potential source of bioactives for drug discovery and treatments. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.