The use of bioactive compounds and derivatives represents one of the most promising strategies to treat the present upsurge in infectious diseases. Malaria or roundworm parasites are examples of infectious diseases where medicinal plants have paved the way for eliminating these globally. Research groups discovering artemisin, derived from
Artemisia annua, and ivermectin, extracted from the bacterium
Streptomyces avermitilis, that are used to treat these diseases, have been awarded Nobel Prizes for these discoveries. Although there are many advantages to the use of natural products as new drugs, there are some problems that need to be addressed, e.g. solubility, diffusion and toxicity. It is of utmost importance, that these natural substances are thoroughly studied to avoid toxic effect in humans. In addition, biological pharmacological agents based on herbal extracts and natural products are an economically and socially viable alternative to treat infectious diseases. Indeed, nanotechnology applications for the control of pathogen microorganisms, such as nanoformulations, are one of the most novel areas of research with the potential to solve these problems.
This Research Topic aims to collect and disseminate some of the most significant and recent contributions in the use of medicinal plants and natural compounds, extracts and derivatives as antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral agents to treat infectious diseases. In addition, this Research Topic article collection will focus particularly on aspects of design, development, manufacturing, characterization and modelling of formulations for pharmaceutical application, with a main focus on their antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and antiviral capacities in infectious disease.
Consequently, this Research Topic aims to integrate the scientific study of medicinal plants with modern methods based on information from the uses of folk medicine, together with references to relevant studies that will enlighten readers studying biochemistry, natural product chemistry, pharmacology, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, and botany to help them understand and validate the ancestral uses of medicinal plants.
Papers submitted will be judged on the basis of scientific originality and contribution to the field, quality and subject matter. Studies should address at least one of the following:
• Mechanisms underlying treatments of infectious disease within an ethnopharmacological context
• New experimental techniques for assessing antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral effects of medicinal plants and natural products
• Novel approaches for studying and delivering natural products to treat infectious diseases
• This Research Topic will also focus on structure elucidation, quality control or botanical identification of plant-based medicines with ancestral or local uses and their isolated metabolites, in the context of treating infectious diseases
Authors must clearly and briefly identify underlying molecular effect(s) or mechanism(s) of the chemicals are being reported and what their significance is in the abstract. Furthermore, sufficient doses should be included in order to provide information on NOAEL/LOAEL values.
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
here).