This Research Topic is part of a series with:
Ethnopharmacological Studies for the Development of Drugs with special reference to Asteraceae, Volume IThe Asteraceae (Compositae), also known as the daisy, sunflower, or thistle family, is one of the largest families of plants, with 32,913 accepted species names, 1,911 genera, and 13 subfamilies. The importance of Asteraceae for medicinal and food purposes has been described for centuries. Due to the availability of large numbers of species within this family, they are important in traditional medicine throughout the world. Despite the discovery of a large number of compounds in Asteraceae around the world, it has attracted disproportionately little attention in the context of ethnopharmacological research, and there has been little systematic exploration and subsequent development.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 was awarded for the discovery of artemisinin and avermectin, which fundamentally changed the treatment of parasitic diseases around the globe. Both compounds are natural products, once again showing that nature can be a powerful source of medicine. A breakthrough for the development of antimalarial drugs was the identification of the sesquiterpene artemisinin from Artemisia annua L.(Asteraceae), which can kill even multidrug-resistant strains of P. falciparum. Several semisynthetic derivatives of artemisinin (e.g., the water-soluble artesunate) have been developed, which are in clinical practice today.
Within this scientific framework, the focus of this Research Topic will be on the ethnopharmacology of the family, including their phytochemistry (as it relates to medical uses) and molecular pharmacology of natural products. We especially encourage submissions focusing on ethnopharmacological articles of Asteraceae exploring their potential for developing more evidence-based uses of such species, including manuscripts that focus on activity guided chromatographic isolation of novel active compounds from members of the family using validated bioassays or in vivo animal experiments.
Chemotaxonomic studies that shed light on evolution of Asteraceae from related families are welcome, if they contribute to an understanding of the family’s ethnopharmacology. Studies that deal with isolation, identification, and chemical synthesis of secondary metabolites from Asteraceae will only be of interest if they are linked to adequate pharmacological activities.
This Research Topic welcomes different kind of articles such as Systematic Review, Mini Review, Case Report, Clinical Trial, Data Report and Original Research.
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).