Bacterial biofilms cause persistent infection, and seriously aggravate the occurrence of antibiotic resistance. Current conventional therapies, such as antibiotics, bacteriophages and quorum sensing inhibitors, are inadequate for the treatment of the biofilms. Increasing evidence has shown that natural medicines characterized by multicomponent and multitarget take comprehensive inhibitory effect on the biofilms. Based on the comparative analysis of the efficacy characteristics and mechanisms in combatting the biofilms of conventional and natural medicine therapies, this review has concluded that the combined medication of two therapies will be a more effective strategy against the biofilms. This review provides a novel thinking for the treatment of bacterial biofilm infections.

Bacterial biofilms widely exist in nature and seriously threaten global public health. Biofilms always cause persistent infection and seriously aggravate the occurrence of antibiotic resistance, which makes the treatment of bacterial infection difficult. Current conventional therapies, such as antibiotics, bacteriophages and quorum sensing inhibitors, are widely used to combat biofilms. However, these therapies are inadequate for the safe and effective treatment of biofilms. Antibiotics often produce resistance in treated bacteria, and antibacterial peptides are easily decomposed by proteases, so their efficacy is reduced. These results indicate that the treatment of biofilms needs further improvement. Increasing evidence has shown that natural medicine therapies have significant inhibitory effects on biofilms. This review summarized and analyzed the efficacy characteristics and corresponding mechanisms of conventional and natural medicine therapies combatting biofilms. By comparison, the advantages and disadvantages of those therapies have been classified and interpreted, so we have inferred that combined medication with natural medicines will be a more effective strategy against biofilms. This review lays a promising foundation for the development of antibiofilm agents and provides novel thinking for the treatment of bacterial biofilm infections.