About this Research Topic

Background

The observation of the international and world contexts reveals the awareness that climate changes, anthropization, and the widespread presence of environmental pollutants, represent factors that directly affect the environment itself, animal welfare and, through the food chain, interfere with human health. Therefore, the identification of a new scientific approach, which simultaneously considers the environment's healthiness, animal well-being and food safety in solidarity with human health, is mandatory.
Green Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology represents a branch of veterinary pharmacology which should be implemented as a complementary and sustainable method to reduce the use of chemicals and minimize the phenomena of drug resistance and the persistence of residues in the environment, from a “One Health” approach perspective. The “One Health” initiative is a worldwide strategy for expanding collaborations in all aspects of health care for humans, animals, and the environment. Green Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, in this context, promotes the study and use of molecules and compounds of natural origin derived from plants and natural products to respect environment and animal health. Recently, these approaches have been successfully applied due to their low environmental toxicity, significant antibacterial activity, efficacy in parasite control in small ruminants and in bee farming, providing a valid alternative to conventionally used drugs whose efficacy is hampered by resistance phenomena.
Furthermore, drugs used for counteracting a wide range of diseases, such as inflammatory, metabolic, cardiovascular, or oncological, are accompanied by significant side effects that limit their efficacy and benefits in pets and farm animals. In this regard, there is growing interest in using naturally occurring compounds as adjuvant strategies in the prevention and treatment of the early stage of several pathologies thanks to their safety, which may avoid the onset of side effects, and effectiveness in counteracting multiple components of diseases.
Increasing evidence (collected on experimental animal models and on human patients) has shown that several natural products can improve therapeutic outcomes with a relative reduction of potential side effects. Therefore, it would be of great interest and auspicious that this approach finds fertile ground in veterinary medicine. The advantages of animal health are indisputable and linked to the consequent reduction in the transmission of infectious diseases to the improvement of the quality and duration of life with an essential impact on the production and safety of food products of animal origin.
Therefore, the goal of this Research Topic is to collect contributions in the present field in order to:
- Identify and characterize newly molecules of natural origin (es., polyphenols, flavonoids, sterols, alkaloids, polyketides, lactones, steroids, piperidinones, chromones, terpenes, vitamins, peptides, amino acids, fatty acid amides, chlorosulpholipids, liponucleoides), with anthelmintic properties capable of replacing or reducing the number of pesticides commonly used in agriculture limiting their detrimental environmental impact, soil and aquifer pollution and the subsequent long-term toxic effects in several animal species.
- Evaluate the role and mode of action in nutritional, pharmacological, medical, or therapeutic applications of newly identified phytocomplexes derived from plants in pets and farm animals, aiming to reduce side effects and improve animal welfare and safety of food of animal origin.
We welcome Original Research articles, Review articles, Systematic Reviews, Methods articles, Clinical Trials, and Case Reports.

Keywords: Pharmacology, Plants, Phytocomplexes, Human health, Animal welfare, Food safety, Pollutants

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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