Coumarins as Effective Therapeutic Agents: Mechanism of Action and Diverse Activity

Dear Colleagues,

Coumarins are heterocyclic compounds belonging to the class of benzopyrenes, found in various plants, fungi and microorganisms. Coumarins and their derivatives show great chemical diversity and include furanocoumarins, pyranocoumarins, as well as simple coumarins. These natural compounds exhibit bioactive properties such as anticoagulant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimalarial, anticancer, antiviral and enzyme inhibitory effects, including acetylcholinesterase, COX or tyrosinase. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of reports on the activity of coumarins in the central nervous system, and they have exhibited neuroprotective, anticonvulsant and anti-anxiety effects.

This Special Issue will include a selection of articles highlighting the current challenges in phytochemical research on coumarins and determining their pharmacological activity and possible applications.

The theme of the issue will be innovative approaches to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the pharmacological activity of coumarins, which can be used in the treatment and prevention of many diseases. We invite you to participate in this Special Issue by submitting original research, short communications and review manuscripts. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the search for new natural medicines.

Dr. Jarosław Widelski
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• furanocoumarins
• pyranocoumarins
• simple coumarins
• anti-inflammatory properties
• cytotoxic activity
• antitumor activity
• antimicrobial acitivity
• bioactivity of compounds
• anxiolytic activity
• neuroprotective properties
• bioactive metabolites
• medicinal plants