Plant Metabolites as Antiviral Preparations Against Coronaviruses

In 2019-2020, the Coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 pandemic created a serious challenge for health care systems in several countries worldwide. A cure has not been developed yet and currently used treatment protocols are aimed at relieving clinical symptoms of the disease. This article presents a retrospective review of biologically active compounds of plant origin that can inhibit the reproduction of CoVs, which makes them potential candidates for creating medicinal antiviral preparations against severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 infections. A literature review of articles from highly rated journals was performed using public databases. The search was carried out using keywords related to CoVs, targets for therapy, and plant as antiviral agents. Although inhibition of viral replication is often considered the common mechanism of antiviral activity exerted by most natural products, several plant-derived compounds show specific activity for particular target viruses. In this context, certain classes of plant preparations can serve as a basis for designing modern antiviral agents. In addition, a large number of plant compounds that are potentially active against CoVs are the main components of certain common dietary supplements that can be used to improve the resistance of a population against certain respiratory infections. In this review, we have attempted to characterize the main groups of biologically active plant compounds that have the potential to disrupt the key stages of CoV replication. It has been shown that the use of certain herbal preparations can change the course of infection.