TLC bioautography: high throughput technique for screening of bioactive natural products

TLC bioautography is a method that combines chromatographic separation and in situ biological activity determination. The antimicrobial, antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities can be performed on TLC bioautography. This method is mainly used for preliminary screening natural products possessing these biological activities and for the bioactivity-directed fractionation and isolation of active components from complex extracts. This review covers the mechanisms and methodology of the antimicrobial, antioxidant activities, and enzyme inhibition adopted on TLC. It will be in particular discuss the recent advances in these technologies and assess their applications in targeting natural products.