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Biomedicines
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Therapeutic Potential of Plant Secondary Metabolites in the Treatment of...
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Therapeutic Potential of Plant Secondary Metabolites in the Treatment of Diseases and Drug Development: Volume II

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Biology and Pathology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 6172

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pavel B. Drasar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry of Natural Compounds, University of Chemistry and Technology, Technicka 5, CZ 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: natural product chemistry; synthesis of heterocycles; non-hormonally active steroids; terpenes; supramolecular systems with chiral natural products; fluorescent labelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Michal Jurášek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry of Natural Compounds, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, Prague 6, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: organic synthesis; natural products; medicinal chemistry; steroids; terpenoids; chemical biology; cancer; fluorescent probes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The opportunity to use the vault of natural products, namely, plant secondary metabolites and their semisynthetic derivatives, in the treatment of diseases is becoming more and more exciting. The development of, among others, vector-driven targeted medicinal drugs as well as therapeutic and diagnostic agents based on the structure of biologically active plant secondary metabolites may shorten the development time for new tools, and could make the tools more effective. Similarly, healing instruments developed from this group of bioactive drugs may bring new knowledge. Sometimes, drugs derived from long-used herbal medicines can be more efficient and much safer. On the other hand, the repurposing of already-known APIs from the kingdom of natural products can open new horizons in their study and utilization.

This Special Issue aims to support and highlight the fields of natural products research that uses the plant secondary metabolites either directly or as pharmacophores for the development of tools for diseases recognition, treatment, and possibly even prevention. Contributions from every corner of the plant secondary metabolites field are welcome, but must be based on concrete, chemically well-defined compound(s). We would not object if a new approach to natural products utilization is supported by solid IT tools.

Therefore, I am taking the liberty to invite all authors from the respective fields to contribute with reviews and original research papers. Hand in hand, we will open more possibilities to proceed towards new ways of disease treatment.

Prof. Dr. Pavel B. Drasar
Dr. Michal Jurášek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant secondary metabolites
  • natural compounds
  • drug development
  • human diseases treatment
  • natural compounds activity mechanisms
  • drug repurposing
  • drug action modelling

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 9191 KiB  
Article
Sinapic Acid Attenuate Liver Injury by Modulating Antioxidant Activity and Inflammatory Cytokines in Thioacetamide-Induced Liver Cirrhosis in Rats
by Ahmed A. J. Jabbar, Zaenah Zuhair Alamri, Mahmood Ameen Abdulla, Ahmed S. AlRashdi, Soran Kayfi Najmaldin and Mustafa AbdulMonam Zainel
Biomedicines 2023, 11(5), 1447; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11051447 - 15 May 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2955
Abstract
Sinapic acid (SA) is a natural pharmacological active compound found in berries, nuts, and cereals. The current study aimed to investigate the protective effects of SA against thioacetamide (TAA) fibrosis in rats by histopathological and immunohistochemical assays. The albino rats (30) were randomly [...] Read more.
Sinapic acid (SA) is a natural pharmacological active compound found in berries, nuts, and cereals. The current study aimed to investigate the protective effects of SA against thioacetamide (TAA) fibrosis in rats by histopathological and immunohistochemical assays. The albino rats (30) were randomly divided into five groups (G). G1 was injected with distilled water 3 times/week and fed orally daily with 10% Tween 20 for two months. G2–5 were injected with 200 mg/kg TAA three times weekly for two months and fed with 10% Tween 20, 50 mg/kg silymarin, 20, and 40 mg/kg of SA daily for 2 months, respectively. The results showed that rats treated with SA had fewer hepatocyte injuries with lower liver index (serum bilirubin, total protein, albumin, and liver enzymes (ALP, ALT, and AST) and were similar to that of control and silymarin-treated rats. Acute toxicity for 2 and 4 g/kg SA showed to be safe without any toxic signs in treated rats. Macroscopic examination showed that hepatotoxic liver had an irregular, rough surface with micro and macro nodules and histopathology expressed by Hematoxylin and Eosin, and Masson Trichrome revealed severe inflammation and infiltration of focal necrosis, fibrosis, lymphocytes, and proliferation bile duct. In contrast, rats fed with SA had significantly lower TAA toxicity in gross and histology and liver tissues as presented by less liver tissue disruption, lesser fibrosis, and minimum in filtered hepatocytes. Immunohistochemistry of rats receiving SA showed significant up-regulation of HSP 70% and down-regulation of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) protein expression compared to positive control rats. The homogenized liver tissues showed a notable rise in the antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) actions with significantly lower malondialdehyde (MDA) levels compared to that of the positive control group. Furthermore, the SA-treated rats had significantly lower TNF-a, IL-6, and higher IL-10 levels than the positive control rats. Thus, the findings suggest SA as a hepatoprotective compound due to its inhibitory effects on fibrosis, hepatotoxicity, liver cell proliferation, up-regulation of HSP 70, and downregulation of α-SMA expression, inhibiting lipid peroxidation (MDA), while retaining the liver index and antioxidant enzymes to normal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Therapeutic Potential of Plant Secondary Metabolites in the Treatment of Diseases and Drug Development: Volume II)
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24 pages, 2296 KiB  
Article
Potential Gonado-Protective Effect of Cichorium endivia and Its Major Phenolic Acids against Methotrexate-Induced Testicular Injury in Mice
by Enas E. Eltamany, Esraa M. Mosalam, Eman T. Mehanna, Basma M. Awad, Sarah M. Mosaad, Maged S. Abdel-Kader, Amany K. Ibrahim, Jihan M. Badr and Marwa S. Goda
Biomedicines 2022, 10(8), 1986; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10081986 - 16 Aug 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2627
Abstract
Cichorium endivia L. (Asteraceae) is a wide edible plant that grows in the Mediterranean region. In this study, a phytochemical investigation of C. endivia L. ethanolic extract led to the isolation of stigmasterol (1), ursolic acid (2), β-amyrin [...] Read more.
Cichorium endivia L. (Asteraceae) is a wide edible plant that grows in the Mediterranean region. In this study, a phytochemical investigation of C. endivia L. ethanolic extract led to the isolation of stigmasterol (1), ursolic acid (2), β-amyrin (3), azelaic acid (4), vanillic acid (5), (6S, 7E)-6-hydroxy-4,7-megastigmadien-3,9-dione (S(+)-dehydrovomifoliol) (6), 4-hydroxy phenyl acetic acid (7), vomifoliol (8), ferulic acid (9), protocatechuic acid (10), kaempferol (11), p. coumaric acid (12), and luteolin (13). In addition, the total phenolic content as well as the in vitro antioxidant activity of C. endivia L. extract were estimated. Moreover, we inspected the potential gonado-protective effect of C. endivia crude extract, its phenolic fraction, and the isolated coumaric, vanillic, and ferulic acids against methotrexate (MTX)-induced testicular injury in mice. There were seven groups: normal control, MTX control, MTX + C. endivia crude extract, MTX + C. endivia phenolic fraction, MTX + isolated coumaric acid, MTX + isolated vanillic acid, and MTX + isolated ferulic acid. MTX was given by i.p. injection of a 20 mg/kg single dose. The crude extract and phenolic fraction were given with a dose of 100 mg/kg/day, whereas the compounds were given at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day. A histopathological examination was done. The testosterone level was detected in serum together with the testicular content of malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2 associated x protein (Bax), p53, and miR-29a. C. endivia crude extract, the phenolic fraction, and the isolated compounds showed significant elevation in their levels of testosterone, CAT, SOD, Bcl-2 with a significant decrease in their levels of MDA, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, NF-κB, Bax, P53, and miR-29a compared to those of the MTX control group. In conclusion, C. endivia mitigated MTX-induced germ cell toxicity via anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Therapeutic Potential of Plant Secondary Metabolites in the Treatment of Diseases and Drug Development: Volume II)
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