Exploring Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds: The Role of Peptides, Polysaccharides, and Antioxidants in Nutriceutical Development and Health Promotion
A special issue of Antioxidants (ISSN 2076-3921). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural and Synthetic Antioxidants".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 87
Special Issue Editor
Interests: functional foods; separation and purification; preparation and processing technology; bioactivity evaluation; characterization and structure identification; downstream product development; food ecology and toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plant-derived bioactive peptides, polysaccharides, and other nutraceuticals are critical active components in traditional medicine and functional foods, offering multiple health benefits such as antioxidant effects, lipid metabolism regulation, tumor suppression, etc. They represent promising candidates for addressing key human health challenges, including oxidative stress, hyperlipidemia, cancer progression, and so forth.
The molecular structural diversity of peptides, polysaccharides, and other nutraceuticals endows them with unique biological functions and systematic studies on their structure–activity relationships (SARs), particularly in relation to the mechanisms underlying modern diseases (e.g., metabolic syndrome and cancer), can drive cross-scale insights from molecular architecture to mechanistic elucidation. This provides a theoretical foundation for functional food development and drug target design.
Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are central pathological mechanisms underpinning metabolic disorders (such as hyperlipidemia) and cancer progression. Peptides, polysaccharides, and other nutraceuticals can intervene in these processes by modulating signaling pathways. Mechanistic research supports their application in precision nutrition and precision medicine, including interventions for obesity, hyperlipidemia, or early-stage cancer management.
This Special Issue will publish original research articles and reviews focusing on the antioxidant, hypolipidemic, antitumor, and other potentials of plant-derived peptides and polysaccharides and other nutraceuticals. Contributions should emphasize elucidating the structure–activity relationships (SARs) and underlying molecular mechanisms of these bioactive compounds pertinent to addressing key health challenges, including oxidative stress, hyperlipidemia, tumor progression, etc.
Dr. Zhaohui Xue
Guest Editor
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. Antioxidants 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 2900 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-derived bioactive peptides
- polysaccharides
- structure–activity relationship (SAR)
- molecular mechanisms
- oxidative stress
- hypolipidemic effects
- antitumor capacity
- apoptosis induction
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