Biomolecules as Drug Candidates for Chronic Inflammation

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 2876

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
2. Institute for Research and Inovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: evidence-based medicine; phytochemistry; phytopharmacology; drug discovery; natural products biochemistry; bioactive molecules; functional foods; nutraceuticals; fungal and bacterial infections; resistance to antimicrobials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Molecular Chemistry, Materials and Catalysis Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Beni-Mellal, Morocco
Interests: drug synthesis; medicinal and aromatic plants; bioactive compounds; heterocyclic chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation is the body's natural response to cellular dysfunction, healing injuries or stimuli agents by alerting inflammatory cells and cytokines. Among the two categories of inflammation, acute and chronic, chronic inflammation has numerous triggers, and, as a result, chronic diseases can occur, including cancer; cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and osteoarticular diseases; diabetes; asthma; mood disorders; Parkinson's disease; Alzheimer's disease; dementia; arthritis; and multiple sclerosis; among others.

Recognized as arising from modern society, these chronic diseases have a multifactorial origin, but there is an aspect that is transversal to all—the associated morbimortality and healthcare burden—which has raised serious concerns among the medical and scientific community.

Several studies have been developed in an attempt to clarify the main risk factors that are in its genesis, in developing adequate prevention and monitoring programs, but also in the discovery of increasingly better, more effective and accurate therapeutic regimens. To date, several drugs have been developed for such a purpose; however, more recently, given their ineffectiveness, side effects and toxicity, the interest in the study of medicinal plants and natural products has re-emerged as a source of biomolecules with high therapeutic value, used since time immemorial for the prevention and even treatment of a multitude of physiological conditions. Biomolecules comprise a broad class of highly complex organic compounds with recognized bioactive effects that have been increasingly proposed as a key option for preventing chronic inflammation or even for the treatment of chronic conditions.

In this sense, this Special Issue aims to cover all aspects related to the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation, with particular emphasis on the discovery of new molecules that can help to prevent, reduce or even counteract chronic inflammation and, consequently, be of extreme usefulness in various chronic diseases, also clarifying their mechanisms of action.

Prof. Dr. Natália Cruz-Martins
Dr. Latifa Bouissane
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • chronic inflammation
  • biomolecules
  • mechanisms of action, therapeutic effect
  • pharmacokinetics
  • pharmacodynamics
  • new drugs

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 5339 KiB  
Article
Notopterol Ameliorates Hyperuricemia-Induced Cardiac Dysfunction in Mice
by Qian Wang, Dewei Peng, Bingyu Huang, Lintong Men, Tao Jiang, Shengqi Huo, Moran Wang, Junyi Guo, Jiagao Lv and Li Lin
Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16(3), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16030361 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2222
Abstract
Notopterol is a naturally occurring furanocoumarin compound found in the root of Notopterygium incisum. Hyperuricemia involves the activation of chronic inflammation and leads to cardiac damage. Whether notopterol has cardioprotective potential in hyperuricemia mice remains elusive. The hyperuricemic mouse model was constructed by [...] Read more.
Notopterol is a naturally occurring furanocoumarin compound found in the root of Notopterygium incisum. Hyperuricemia involves the activation of chronic inflammation and leads to cardiac damage. Whether notopterol has cardioprotective potential in hyperuricemia mice remains elusive. The hyperuricemic mouse model was constructed by administration of potassium oxonate and adenine every other day for six weeks. Notopterol (20 mg/kg) and allopurinol (10 mg/kg) were given daily as treatment, respectively. The results showed that hyperuricemia dampened heart function and reduced exercise capacity. Notopterol treatment improved exercise capacity and alleviated cardiac dysfunction in hyperuricemic mice. P2X7R and pyroptosis signals were activated both in hyperuricemic mice and in uric acid-stimulated H9c2 cells. Additionally, it was verified that inhibition of P2X7R alleviated pyroptosis and inflammatory signals in uric acid-treated H9c2 cells. Notopterol administration significantly suppressed expression levels of pyroptosis associated proteins and P2X7R in vivo and in vitro. P2X7R overexpression abolished the inhibition effect of notopterol on pyroptosis. Collectively, our findings suggested that P2X7R played a critical role in uric acid-induced NLRP3 inflammatory signals. Notopterol inhibited pyroptosis via inhibiting the P2X7R/NLRP3 signaling pathway under uric acid stimulation. Notopterol might represent a potential therapeutic strategy against pyroptosis and improve cardiac function in hyperuricemic mice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomolecules as Drug Candidates for Chronic Inflammation)
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