About this Research Topic
Stroke and dementia are common diseases afflicting the elderly population. Stroke is the 2nd leading cause of death in China, and Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to be the 2nd regarding the medical and financial burden by 2020. Though great progress has been made, these illnesses still remain incurable or can be partially improved. Ischemic stroke has been successfully managed with thrombolytic agents and endovascular thrombectomy, but a decent proportion of patients still can not completely restore their neurological functions. These patients with remaining symptoms will be the potential target population of herbal recipes as an adjuvant therapy. Intracerebral hemorrhage and Alzheimer’s disease do not even have an effective treatment apart from symptomatic relief. Therefore, it is demanding to discover new and efficacious treatments for these disorders.
In searching for therapeutics, that could serve as adjuvant therapies for these conditions for patients suffering from these diseases, it has been revealed that herbal decoctions including Chinese herbs and other traditional medicines have been widely used by TCM practitioners and physicians in other countries. However, the majority of herbal recipes have been used empirically based on the diagnostic criteria of TCM. For the same clinical manifestations, different herbal recipes are used based on the diagnosis by TCM practitioners. There must be is a significant difference in the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases. Though there are a large number of publications on clinical use of herbal recipes, few of them comply with the criteria of randomized controlled trials. It is, therefore, necessary to assess the scientific evidence for these herbal recipes in managing the above mentioned illnesses using state of the art pharmacological techniques. This will not only facilitate the discovery of new therapeutics or compounds, but also refresh our knowledge in understanding how these diseases develop.
The proposed research topic aims to achieve the following three goals:
- To encourage submissions of new herbal recipes which have been empirically used for abovementioned diseases or traditional recipes which have not been used for these types of disorders. The collections of these recipes will become promising adjuvant therapies for the above conditions.
- To facilitate collaborations between research groups in demystifying the underlying therapeutic mechanisms of different herbal recipes, and consequently to break the barrier in hindering the use of herbal recipes.
- To translate the scientific findings to medications or standardized practice by thoroughly testing the efficacy of various herbal recipes using scientifically sound methods.
We would like to include the following themes, but not limited to them:
1. Clinical studies demonstrating evidence of the usefulness of herbal recipes, plant derivatives, and other natural products in managing stroke or neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Basic original research on the underlying mechanisms of herbal recipes in managing the above conditions.
3. Reviews of or meta-analysis on the efficacy of potential herbal recipes on the above conditions and their underlying mechanisms.
4. Protocols of clinical research aiming to test the therapeutic effect of herbal recipes or compounds derived from herbal recipes.
We would like to invite submissions which will make a significant contribution to deciphering the working mechanisms of herbs, expanding the database of safe and efficacious herbal recipes, and bridging the gap in our understanding of stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. Ultimately, this will contribute to the management of diverse neurodegenerative disorders which are still challenges to neuroscientists. To this end, only late pre-clinical and clinical studies will be considered. These studies should have a theoretic background from their specific traditional practice and can be tested in animal models or humans. Results from in vitro experiments will not be considered.
One can find more information about the Article Types guidelines in the Ethnopharmacology section: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/sections/ethnopharmacology#article-types.
All the manuscripts submitted to this project will be peer-reviewed and need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version a thttps://www.frontiersin.org/files/pdf/4_pillars_FULL_TEXT.pdf ).
In the context of this research topic, particular attention needs to be paid to the effects of traditional medicinal preparations in terms of these effects being testable in scientific terms (see our Four Pillars, section 3d). Plausible pharmacological models must the used, which allow an assessment of the potential effects.
In searching for therapeutics, that could serve as adjuvant therapies for these conditions for patients suffering from these diseases, it has been revealed that herbal decoctions including Chinese herbs and other traditional medicines have been widely used by TCM practitioners and physicians in other countries. However, the majority of herbal recipes have been used empirically based on the diagnostic criteria of TCM. For the same clinical manifestations, different herbal recipes are used based on the diagnosis by TCM practitioners. There must be is a significant difference in the etiology and pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases. Though there are a large number of publications on clinical use of herbal recipes, few of them comply with the criteria of randomized controlled trials. It is, therefore, necessary to assess the scientific evidence for these herbal recipes in managing the above mentioned illnesses using state of the art pharmacological techniques. This will not only facilitate the discovery of new therapeutics or compounds, but also refresh our knowledge in understanding how these diseases develop.
The proposed research topic aims to achieve the following three goals:
- To encourage submissions of new herbal recipes which have been empirically used for abovementioned diseases or traditional recipes which have not been used for these types of disorders. The collections of these recipes will become promising adjuvant therapies for the above conditions.
- To facilitate collaborations between research groups in demystifying the underlying therapeutic mechanisms of different herbal recipes, and consequently to break the barrier in hindering the use of herbal recipes.
- To translate the scientific findings to medications or standardized practice by thoroughly testing the efficacy of various herbal recipes using scientifically sound methods.
We would like to include the following themes, but not limited to them:
1. Clinical studies demonstrating evidence of the usefulness of herbal recipes, plant derivatives, and other natural products in managing stroke or neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Basic original research on the underlying mechanisms of herbal recipes in managing the above conditions.
3. Reviews of or meta-analysis on the efficacy of potential herbal recipes on the above conditions and their underlying mechanisms.
4. Protocols of clinical research aiming to test the therapeutic effect of herbal recipes or compounds derived from herbal recipes.
We would like to invite submissions which will make a significant contribution to deciphering the working mechanisms of herbs, expanding the database of safe and efficacious herbal recipes, and bridging the gap in our understanding of stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. Ultimately, this will contribute to the management of diverse neurodegenerative disorders which are still challenges to neuroscientists. To this end, only late pre-clinical and clinical studies will be considered. These studies should have a theoretic background from their specific traditional practice and can be tested in animal models or humans. Results from in vitro experiments will not be considered.
One can find more information about the Article Types guidelines in the Ethnopharmacology section: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/sections/ethnopharmacology#article-types.
All the manuscripts submitted to this project will be peer-reviewed and need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version a thttps://www.frontiersin.org/files/pdf/4_pillars_FULL_TEXT.pdf ).
In the context of this research topic, particular attention needs to be paid to the effects of traditional medicinal preparations in terms of these effects being testable in scientific terms (see our Four Pillars, section 3d). Plausible pharmacological models must the used, which allow an assessment of the potential effects.
Keywords: herbal medicine, ethnopharmacology, plant derivatives, molecular mechanism, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
