About this Research Topic

Background

The liver is one of the most versatile organs in the human body. Liver disease seriously threatens human health and is one of the main causes of death globally. Patients with liver disease have various associated health problems in digestive function, coagulation, blood glucose, immunity, fat metabolism, and so on. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop drugs for the treatment and prevention of liver diseases and of associated health problems.

Herbal medicines have been used globally in the treatment of various liver diseases. Traditional Chinese herbal medicines such as Glycyrrhiza spp. and, Astragalus membranaceus Bunge are examples of botanical drugs that have been used in many prescriptions to treat liver diseases used in this context. Silybum marianum originally distributed in the Mediterranean and other parts of Southern Europe and Northern Africa is now used widely to treat various liver diseases including those caused by alcoholism and/or hepatitis B or C virus. The species has been widely introduced outside its natural range. The active natural products in traditional Chinese medicine have also been developed as drugs for the treatment of liver diseases, such as glycyrrhizin. Therefore, the research on the pharmacology, toxicology, and action mechanism of traditional medicines and active natural products are essential to better understand their efficacy and to expand the development of drugs for the clinical treatment of liver diseases.

The aim of this Research Topic is to focus on the latest scientific contributions of traditional medical traditions globally and their active metabolites in the prevention and treatment of liver-related diseases, as well as their pharmacological and toxicological perspectives. It encourages researchers to explore active metabolites, the efficacy and pharmacological activity of chemically defined extracts, action mechanisms, and the establishment of a new model for liver disease.

Original research articles (including high-quality clinical studies complying with international standards), descriptive and systematic reviews as well as perspective papers/ general commentaries, and Policy and Practice Reviews are welcome. This Research Topic invites a focus on the following main themes:

• Discovery of active metabolites for the treatment of liver disease.
• Experimental studies exploring the mechanism of action of herbal medicine and natural products on liver diseases.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of herbal medicines and natural products on liver diseases.
• Pharmacological and toxicological studies on herbal medicine and natural products in treating complications of liver diseases, such as hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
• Studies of the mechanisms of action, and novel molecular and cellular pathways of traditional medicines and natural products used for liver diseases.
• Herbal medicine and natural products research on liver-related multi-organ treatment strategies is also welcome, such as the gut-liver axis and brain-gut-liver axis.

All MSs must fully comply with the four pillars of best practice in ethnopharmacology. With these guidelines, we define in detail what constitutes best practice for manuscripts submitted to Frontiers in Pharmacology; Section Ethnopharmacology. They provide a basis for the peer review and build on the general requirements of Frontiers in Pharmacology (see here). We draw your attention specifically to the need for a full description of the material under investigation (Pillar 2) and the need for a pharmacologically relevant and plausible approach (Pillar 1).

Keywords: Traditional Chinese medicine, pharmacology, natural products, liver disease, toxicology, drug discovery

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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