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Pharmaceutics
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Natural Product Drugs, 2nd Edition
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Recent Advances in Natural Product Drugs, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Biopharmaceutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 2031

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Robert Ancuceanu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Pharmacy, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: drug development; drug discovery; phytochemistry; QSAR; molecular docking; data analysis; pharmaceutical law and ethics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mihaela Dinu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Pharmacy, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: herbs; microscopy; phytochemistry; plant extracts; tests on plant cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute an article to a Special Issue of Pharmaceutics—“Recent Advances in Natural Product Drugs, 2nd Edition”.

Natural products represent an area of research which has made tremendous progress in the last two decades, with a substantial increase in natural compounds identified in an increasing number of plant and animal sources, a similar rise in non-clinical testing of natural compounds for a variety of potential therapeutic applications, and a considerable development of clinical trials for natural compounds and combinations thereof. Natural products—in the past, the only available medicines—continue to be the basis for about half of the drugs currently available, either in their natural form or as semi-synthetic derivatives with improved pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, or safety properties. While the number of plant species known today is estimated to be about 400,000, those that have been even cursorily investigated for their phytochemical compositions comprise a minority, which means that this field remains, largely, a terra incognita. Additionally, marine life, other animal organisms, fungi, and microorganisms are also territories of knowledge that remain largely unexplored. This Special Issue aims to report research relevant to this area.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcomed for submission. Research areas may include—but are not limited to—the following: pharmaceutical formulation regarding natural products; nanoparticles; pharmaceutical processes; pharmacogenetics or pharmacogenomics of natural products; pharmacokinetics; pharmacodynamics; biological targets of natural products; computational methods used in evaluating or testing natural compounds. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Robert Ancuceanu
Prof. Dr. Mihaela Dinu
Guest Editors

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. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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.

Keywords

  • natural products
  • pharmaceutical formulations
  • pharmaceutical processes
  • pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics
  • pharmacokinetics
  • pharmacodynamics
  • nanoparticles
  • biological targets
  • computational methods

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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20 pages, 5089 KiB  
Article
Herbal Formula Extract Ameliorates Anxiety and Cognitive Impairment via Regulation of the Reelin/Dab-1 Pathway in a Murine Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
by Hee Ra Park, Mudan Cai and Eun Jin Yang
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(9), 1150; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16091150 - 30 Aug 2024
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Abstract
We investigated the effects of epigenetic modifications on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using a novel combination of herbal medicines from Panax ginseng, Astragalus membranaceus, Atractylodes macrocephala, and Glycyrrhiza uralensis. The herbal formula extract (HFE) (250 mg/kg) was administered orally [...] Read more.
We investigated the effects of epigenetic modifications on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using a novel combination of herbal medicines from Panax ginseng, Astragalus membranaceus, Atractylodes macrocephala, and Glycyrrhiza uralensis. The herbal formula extract (HFE) (250 mg/kg) was administered orally once daily for 14 days to determine its effects on PTSD in mice by combining prolonged stress and foot shock. The open field and Y-maze tests determined the effect of HFE on PTSD-induced anxiety and cognition. Hippocampal neuronal plastic changes and molecular mechanism were verified. Treatment with HFE decreased anxiety-like behavior and enhanced cognition. Moreover, it reduced the number of PTSD-related hilar ectopic granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG). PTSD mice showed reduced neuronal plasticity of doublecortin+ cells in the DG, which was restored by HFE treatment. HFE reversed PTSD-induced inhibition of the Reelin/Dab1 pathway, a critical signaling cascade involved in brain development, and regulated Reelin methylation. Furthermore, DNA methylation, methyl-CpG binding protein 2, and DNA methyltransferase 1, which were elevated in the hippocampus of PTSD mice, were restored following HFE treatment. HFE increased the expression of synaptic plasticity-related factors in the hippocampus of PTSD mice. Our findings suggest that HFE can facilitate PTSD treatment by alleviating behavioral abnormalities through the restoration of hippocampal dysfunction via regulation of the Reelin/Dab-1 pathway and DNA methylation in the hippocampus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Natural Product Drugs, 2nd Edition)
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32 pages, 10556 KiB  
Article
Machine Learning-Based Analysis Reveals Triterpene Saponins and Their Aglycones in Cimicifuga racemosa as Critical Mediators of AMPK Activation
by Jürgen Drewe, Verena Schöning, Ombeline Danton, Alexander Schenk and Georg Boonen
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(4), 511; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16040511 - 7 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1120
Abstract
Cimicifuga racemosa (CR) extracts contain diverse constituents such as saponins. These saponins, which act as a defense against herbivores and pathogens also show promise in treating human conditions such as heart failure, pain, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, and inflammation. Some of these effects are mediated [...] Read more.
Cimicifuga racemosa (CR) extracts contain diverse constituents such as saponins. These saponins, which act as a defense against herbivores and pathogens also show promise in treating human conditions such as heart failure, pain, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, and inflammation. Some of these effects are mediated by activating AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK). Therefore, comprehensive screening for activating constituents in a CR extract is highly desirable. Employing machine learning (ML) techniques such as Deep Neural Networks (DNN), Logistic Regression Classification (LRC), and Random Forest Classification (RFC) with molecular fingerprint MACCS descriptors, 95 CR constituents were classified. Calibration involved 50 randomly chosen positive and negative controls. LRC achieved the highest overall test accuracy (90.2%), but DNN and RFC surpassed it in precision, sensitivity, specificity, and ROC AUC. All CR constituents were predicted as activators, except for three non-triterpene compounds. The validity of these classifications was supported by good calibration, with misclassifications ranging from 3% to 17% across the various models. High sensitivity (84.5–87.2%) and specificity (84.1–91.4%) suggest suitability for screening. The results demonstrate the potential of triterpene saponins and aglycones in activating AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK), providing the rationale for further clinical exploration of CR extracts in metabolic pathway-related conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Natural Product Drugs, 2nd Edition)
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