New Perspectives on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and Their Isolated Bioactive Compounds

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 1013

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmentale Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
Interests: natural compounds; plant extracts; pharmacology; toxicology; environmental toxicology; forensic sciences; pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies; clinical studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmentale Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
Interests: natural compounds; plant extracts; pharmaceutical biology; phytochemistry; toxicology; environmental toxicology; forensic sciences
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, the market for phytotherapeutics as well as plant-based food supplements (PFS) is constantly growing. A more holistic approach to treatments, as well as the need to find new alternatives to conventional therapies which often cause significant side effects and consequent therapeutic inefficiency, has inexorably led research to focus on the plant world. Indeed, it represents an inexhaustible source of plant complexes and isolated bioactive compounds capable of preserving the subject's state of health, as in the case of PFS, or assisting conventional therapy and sometimes even replacing or filling some therapeutic gaps, as in the case of phytotherapeutics.

From this point of view, medicinal and aromatic plants represent precious raw materials, still not fully explored, which can actively contribute to scientific research in the phytotherapeutic, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical fields.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect new scientific evidence in this regard. Original research articles and reviews investigating medicinal and aromatic plants (ornamental, food or traditionally used) through a multidisciplinary approach (macro- and micro-morphological, phytochemical and biological) will be taken into consideration. Particular attention will be given to some critical points regarding the reproducibility of health and therapeutic effects, such as the standardization and titration of plant complexes.

Prof. Dr. Domenico Trombetta
Dr. Antonella Smeriglio
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • medicinal plants
  • aromatic plants
  • bioactive compounds
  • phytochemicals

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 3884 KiB  
Article
Beyond the Scent: New Evidence about Micromorphological, Phytochemical and Biological Features of Plumeria rubra ‘Tonda Palermitana’ (Apocynaceae)
by Paola Malaspina, Mariarosaria Ingegneri, Federica Betuzzi, Emilio Di Gristina, Laura Cornara, Domenico Trombetta and Antonella Smeriglio
Plants 2024, 13(17), 2479; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13172479 - 4 Sep 2024
Viewed by 740
Abstract
Plumeria rubra L. is an ornamental Caribbean plant widely known for its ethnobotanical uses and pharmacological activities. The ‘Tonda Palermitana’ cultivar, on which no data are to date available, is commonly cultivated in Sicily. The aim of our study was to characterize the [...] Read more.
Plumeria rubra L. is an ornamental Caribbean plant widely known for its ethnobotanical uses and pharmacological activities. The ‘Tonda Palermitana’ cultivar, on which no data are to date available, is commonly cultivated in Sicily. The aim of our study was to characterize the micro-morphological features of leaves and flowers of this cultivar by light and Scanning Electron Microscopy and to investigate the phytochemical profile and the biological properties of their food-grade extracts (LE and FE, respectively) by LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis and different in vitro assays. Numerous branched laticifers were observed, and their secretion contained alkaloids and lipophilic compounds as confirmed by histological analyses. Phytochemical analyses showed the presence of alkaloids (9%), terpenoids (13%) and fatty acids (6%), together with a very abundant presence of iridoids (28%) and polyphenols (39%). The most notable biological activity of both extracts appears to be the antioxidant one, showing half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) about 5 times lower than those detected in anti-inflammatory assays (383.74 ± 5.65 and 232.05 ± 2.87 vs. 1981.23 ± 12.82 and 1215.13 ± 10.15, for FE and LE, respectively), with LE showing the best, and statistically significant (p < 0.001), biological activity. These results allow us to speculate promising nutraceutical and cosmeceutical applications for this old Sicilian cultivar. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

1.  Beyond the scent: new evidences about micromorphological, phytochemical and biological features of Plumeria rubra L. cv. ‘Tonda palermitana’
Authors: the Guest Editor team
 
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