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Review
. 2020 Jul 13;9(7):406.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics9070406.

The Antimicrobial Activity of Cannabinoids

John A Karas  1 , Labell J M Wong  1 , Olivia K A Paulin  1 , Amna C Mazeh  1 , Maytham H Hussein  1 , Jian Li  2 , Tony Velkov  1
Affiliations
Review

The Antimicrobial Activity of Cannabinoids

John A Karas et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

A post-antibiotic world is fast becoming a reality, given the rapid emergence of pathogens that are resistant to current drugs. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover new classes of potent antimicrobial agents with novel modes of action. Cannabis sativa is an herbaceous plant that has been used for millennia for medicinal and recreational purposes. Its bioactivity is largely due to a class of compounds known as cannabinoids. Recently, these natural products and their analogs have been screened for their antimicrobial properties, in the quest to discover new anti-infective agents. This paper seeks to review the research to date on cannabinoids in this context, including an analysis of structure-activity relationships. It is hoped that it will stimulate further interest in this important issue.

Keywords: Cannabis sativa; MRSA; antibiotics; antimicrobial resistance; cannabinoids; structure–activity relationships.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of the most common cannabinoids: (A) CBGA; (B) Δ9-THC, with the numbering convention included; (C) CBD, also numbered; (D) CBG; (E) CBN; and (F) CBC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of cannabinoid structure–activity relationships. Please note that this is a rough guide and the conclusions drawn therein are only relevant to antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive pathogens such as S. aureus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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