About this Research Topic

Background

Polyphenols are one of the most abundant classes of secondary metabolites in plants and particularly relevant in leafy vegetables, fruits, berries, tea, and other beverages, with a wide range of health-promoting activities reported. They are also among the most widely studied natural products regarding their biosynthesis, chemical properties, and pharmacological activities. Different polyphenols such as anthocyanins, coumarins, carotenoids, flavonoids, xanthones, have been reported to be promising anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, antioxidant, and neuroprotective agents. In recent years, there is a growing number of papers that deal with isolation, characterization, and bioactivity evaluation of polyphenols.

However, many of these results are mostly based on in vitro evidence. There have been concerns about the specificity of the compounds’ effects and the dose levels needed to achieve such effects. Also, far fewer focus on the bioavailability, detailed mechanism of actions using animal models, and possible toxicities. Although many polyphenols show potent bioactivity during in vitro evaluation systems, there are various challenges at an in vivo level. Often, in vitro results cannot be translated to similar effects in animal models and clinical studies. Exploration of the detailed molecular mechanisms of actions of polyphenols' bioactivities is necessary to develop them as potentially therapeutic and functional/nutritional agents. Detailed studies assessing their potential bioavailability and optimization of therapeutic doses are also necessary. This Research Topic aims to collect studies related to plant polyphenols from characterization to their molecular pharmacology, safety, and bioavailability evaluation studies.

This Research Topic especially welcomes original research and review articles that deal with pharmacological and toxicological activities in vivo focusing on specific effects, bioavailability studies, structure-activity relationship studies of plant-derived polyphenols. We welcome the following subtopics, but not limited to:
- Pharmacological evaluations and exploration of the mechanism of action of polyphenols.
- Toxicological and/or safety evaluation of polyphenols.
- Evaluations of polyphenols’ bio-availability.
- Structure-activity relationships of polyphenols and an assessment of their specificity of action
- Role of polyphenols in the maintenance of human health.
- Role of polyphenols in the treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

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All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version here).

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Keywords: Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Metabolic diseases, Bioactivity, Mechanism of action, Bioavailability

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.

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