Investigating the Impact of Bioactive Metabolites and Extracts in Human Health and Disease

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Background

Natural bioactive compounds are small molecular compounds derived from plants as well as marine and terrestrial organisms such as bacteria and fungi. Many of these metabolites have been found to exhibit intrinsic therapeutic potential and have surpassed the limits of synthetic drugs in terms of biocompatibility, target delivery, efficacy, and often low toxicity. Bioactive metabolites and extracts have served the biomedical field with their therapeutically significant properties against microbial infections, cancer, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory diseases, and other medical conditions. Bioactive metabolites belong to various classes including phenolics, flavonoids, phytoestrogens, polyketides, steroids, tannins, xanthones, terpenoids, and alkaloids. They have been recognized to be involved in regulating several cellular processes and thereby preventing the progression of several diseases. Over the last two centuries, such metabolites were isolated and their structures elucidated, in recent decades with more and more advanced methods. This has helped to develop a deeper insight into their impact on human health and diseases.

The aim of the Research Topic is to collect articles focusing on the development of novel bioactive metabolites from natural sources using new and advanced measures. A great deal of research has already been done in the discovery of natural drugs from diverse biological sources, investigating their putative role against health complications and disorders. Despite the multiple drug discoveries so far, there still remain major challenges in gaining such bioactive metabolites. The isolation from different organisms requires targeted and specific approaches and, therefore. creates obstacles in the extraction of compounds. The scaffold diversity and structural complexity of such bioactive metabolites create obstacles to understanding the chemical nature of these compounds and their biosynthetic mechanisms. The fundamental role of bioactive compounds in curing several chronic diseases has been reported in many studies, however, the molecular mechanism adopted by these bioactive compounds in the prevention of diseases still needs to be elucidated. Dereplication tools, omics-based studies, and advanced analytical techniques have also been developed to meet the limitations of natural product discovery.

The Research Topic welcomes contributions involving the development of novel drugs with improved targeted delivery systems and a mechanistic overview of their therapeutic action. Contributors are welcome to submit their research article, review, and case study providing a perspective on the natural bioactive compounds and their role in human health and diseases. The theme of the research topic includes, but is not limited to:
• Isolation and characterization of novel bioactive compounds from natural sources and their biomedical applications.
• Role of bioactive metabolites in managing/treating human diseases and identification of molecular targets.
• Elucidation of molecular and metabolic pathways underlying manifold therapeutic effects of bioactive compounds in maintaining human health and diseases.
• Epigenetic modifications or encapsulation of bioactive compounds for enhanced stability, penetrability, and applicability.
• Targeted delivery and tissue specificity of these naturally-derived bioactive compounds against several human diseases.
• Identification of potentially bioactive compounds using modern technologies and their purification for clinical trials.

Manuscripts submitted to this project through Ethnopharmacology need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version here). Importantly, please ascertain that the ethnopharmacological context is clearly described (pillar 3d) and that the material investigated is characterized in detail (pillars 2 a and b; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.953205/abstract) ‘

Keywords: Bioactivity, Natural, Plants, Targets, Biomedicine, Bioengineering, Metabolites

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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