Medicinal Plants for Preventing and Treating Cardiovascular Diseases and the Discovery of Active Natural Products : Advanced Models, Novel Paradigms and New Mechanisms

Medicinal plants and active natural products play an essential role in healthcare and are increasingly used worldwide for managing various chronic diseases (in particular, cardiovascular disease) and promoting well-being. Despite significant progress in the identification of several major bioactive compounds from known medicinal plants and food supplement, such as Allium sativum, Ginkgo biloba, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Panax ginseng, this area of research remains a major challenge due to the complexity of chemical components and their elusive mechanisms of action. One major barrier is the lack of feasible methodology to effectively distinguish active compounds of medicinal plants and active natural products. Multiple constituents of medicinal plants and active natural products can be identified using modern analytical approaches, such as LC-MS, GC-MS, and NMR. However, it is difficult to evaluate whether the components identified using specific cellular models or target-based assays exert similar pharmacological effects in a real-life clinical setting. Therefore, advanced models and novel paradigms for analysis of medicinal plants and active natural products remain an urgent clinical requirement. A major barrier is the often limited experimental validity of experimental pharmacological techniques in order to understand the multi-target effects of multiple active metabolites of medicinal plants and active natural products. The understanding of the molecular target of active compounds remains a challenge. Thus, experimental studies that tackle the problem of multi-target effects of medicinal plants and active natural products and use innovative strategies for directly identifying active compounds and their target proteins from complex mixture of medicinal plants and active natural products need to be developed. Combined application of novel paradigms and innovative strategies is expected to provide a more comprehensive understanding of potential medicinal plants and active natural products, which have rarely been used previously. The discovery of active components via programmed/targeted isolation should further improve our understanding of the efficacy and mechanisms of action of medicinal plants and active natural products.

This Research Topic covers the following subtopics: advanced phenotypic or genetic screening approaches to identify bioactive compounds of medicinal plants and active natural products and novel strategies to determine the mechanisms of action of bioactive ingredients in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Human, animal and in vitro models are welcome. Original research articles, reviews and methodologies focused on (but not restricted to) the following areas are encouraged:
•Screening of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants and active natural products using advanced approaches (e.g. high-throughput and high-content screening with 3D-cultured organoids or organ-on-a-chip).
•Studies investigating the multi-targets of multiple active compounds from medicinal plants and active natural products.
•Innovative strategies based on the mechanisms of action of active ingredients from medicinal plants and active natural products in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases at cellular and whole animal levels (e.g. component-knockout/knock-in and ligand fishing that can directly identify active compounds from a complex mixture of medicinal plants)..
•Clinical evaluation or protocols of medicinal plants and active natural products and their bioactive components as therapeutic agents for cardiovascular diseases.

All manuscripts submitted to the specialty section Ethnopharmacology must follow the best-practice assessment criteria defined as “The Four Pillars of Ethnopharmacology” to be considered for peer review. Please note, all submissions to the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology using plant extracts or preparations must also adhere to these Four Pillars to be considered for peer review, regardless of the specialty section, as a baseline standard for sample characterization. Additional criteria may be applied in other specialty sections where appropriate.