Neuron injury is correlated to the development of various diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), stroke, epilepsy, depression, and motor neuron diseases (MNDs). The phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B(Akt) signaling pathway is vital for neuron cell growth, development, and survival. PI3K/Akt signalling could suppress the cell apoptosis via downregulating of proapoptosis proteins of Bax, Bim, and Bad. Furthermore, PI3K/Akt singalling would promote cell proliferation via regulating cell cycle-related proteins, such as Cyclin D1, CDK2, p21, and p27. Besides, PI3K/Akt signalling could also inhibit the GSK-3ß activity to suppress the phosphorylation (p) of tau, which would be helpful for the prevention/treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Interestingly, previous research has suggested that natural agents, including extracts or monomers isolated from plants, animals, microorganisms, and minerals, are beneficial for preventing or treating neuron injury-related diseases. Moreover, their molecular mechanisms are closely related to the classical PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
The efficacy of the currently available drugs for these diseases is limited. In addition, their long-term use commonly results in serious side effects or toxicities. Therefore, discovering more effective and safe candidate drugs from natural agents (plants, animals, microorganisms, minerals, etc.) helps prevent or treat neuron injury-related diseases, such as AD, Parkinson’s Disease (PD), stroke, and depression. Therefore, we planned to provide an academic platform for discussing the topic of “Regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway: A Feasible Approach for Natural Neuroprotective Agents to Treat Various Neuron Injury-related Diseases”.
This special issue aims to publish original research and review articles that explore the potential topics, including but are not limited to the following:
• Novel natural products from plants, animals, microorganisms, and minerals with neuroprotective activities via regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
• Recent advances of reported natural neuroprotective agents via regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
• Potential natural agents alleviating toxicities of currently available drugs for neuron injury-related diseases by regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
• New strategies to discover potential neuroprotective drugs targeting the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, such as Network pharmacology, Artificial intelligence, and Computer-aided design.
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within specific scope of this section:
• The traditional background of the research object must be described in the introduction and supported with bibliographical primary references, and this may be based on modern uses of a plant in general healthcare.
• For the research article, purely in silico approaches like network studies or docking experiments are outside of the section’s scope.
• Some common small molecules with no specific pharmacological effects may show all sorts of in silico or in vitro effects are outside of the section’s scope.
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).
