Special Issue "The Toxicity of Natural Products"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Jia-You Fang
Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Chang Gung University, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kweishan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
Website: http://www.cgu.edu.tw/GIPS/02teachers/Fang.html
E-Mail:
Interests: pharmaceutics; natural products; dermatology; nanotechnology; drug delivery; pharmacokinetics

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products are chemical compounds or substances produced by a living organism - found in nature that usually has a pharmacological or biological activity for use in pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug design. Although the natural products or medicines are beneficial by their pharmacological activities, some products may produce the toxicity and adverse effect to the body. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ, such as the liver. On the other hand, the natural agents can show the therapeutic effect by exhibiting the toxicity to the pernicious cells or materials. Hence the natural products as the toxins may show dual roles, depending on the targets for treatment. Many researches have systematically studied the toxicity of natural products in recent years. This special issue would focus on any aspects about the toxic effects induced by the natural products. The toxicity of natural products against cancer cells, viruses, germs, or bacteria is also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Jia-You Fang
Guest Editor

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted to toxins@mdpi.org with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as 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 refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

• natural products
• toxin
• toxicity
• pharmacological activity
• in vitro
  
• in vivo

Type of paper: Review
Title: Polyether Compounds from Dinoflagellates: Toxin verus Tools
Authors: José G. Napolitano, Manuel Norte, Antonio Hernández Daranas and José J. Fernández
Affiliation: Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgnica Antonio Gonzlez, Universidad de La Laguna, Astrofsico Francisco Snchez 2, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; E-Mails: mnorte@ull.es (M.N.); adaranas@ull.es (A.H.D.); jjfercas@ull.es (J.J.F.)
Abstract: One of the most interesting group of substances of marine origin, from structural and pharmacological points of view are cyclic polyethers, which generally present a great diversity in size and potent biological activities. The subject of this review will be limited to polyether compound from a particular group of microalgae such as Dinoflagellates. These secondary metabolites are a particular group of molecules which exhibited significant biological activity, strong cytotoxic and, interesting and useful pharmacological properties.