Exploring the Antioxidant Potential and Phenolic Diversity of Forest-Derived Plants

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 829

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Research, Institute of Pharmaceutical Technologies, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Sukileliu Av. 13, LT-50162 Kaunas, Lithuania
2. Department of Analytical and Toxicological Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Sukileliu Av. 13, LT-50162 Kaunas, Lithuania
Interests: plant material; chemical composition; analysis; spectrophotometry; HPLC; method development and validation
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Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Analytical and Toxicological Chemistry, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 50162 Kaunas, Lithuania
Interests: development of methodologies for the analysis of biologically active substances and their application in the studies of medicinal products; phytochemical and antioxidant activity studies of the medicinal herbal raw materials; development of the quantitative methodologies for determination of natural biologically active compounds in medicinal herbs and preparations

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are a vital source of plants for both traditional and modern industrial systems. Research into forest products has been a long tradition for many industrialized countries. Studies on the chemical diversity of forest-derived plants are important because many factors (such as cultivation conditions and technologies, proper collection of raw materials, drying, milling, and storage conditions) influence the amounts and variations of biologically active compounds in forest plants and determine the quality of raw plant material, which determines the quality, efficacy, and safety of products containing herbal ingredients. The quality of these products is also influenced by technological factors, which can also lead to changes in the composition of biologically active compounds; therefore, it is important to assess the influence of these factors as well.

The research on plant antioxidants has a long history. Since the 1990s, the topic of antioxidant-mediated anti-aging has become a popular health-related discussion in developed countries. In the 1960s, scientists extracted a natural antioxidant complex called Pycnogenol from the bark of pine trees along the Bay of Biscay in southern France. After decades of research and development, Pycnogenol has been widely used in cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals. Since then, research institutions and universities in many countries have been engaged in the study of antioxidants.

This Special Issue solicits research focusing on studies on the chemical diversity of forest-derived plants, phytochemical and antioxidant activity analysis of plant extracts, including but not limited to the identification and quantification of antioxidant components and phenolic compounds in these plants, the exploration of their antioxidant mechanisms, the influence of different extraction and separation methods on antioxidant potential and phenolic diversity, and the evaluation of the antioxidant activity of plant extracts in vitro and in vivo.

Furthermore, this Special Issue encourages a targeted search for new ingredients of food, cosmetic, or herbal therapeutic preparations with desired functional properties, assessing their chemical composition and the influence of technological factors on them. To comprehensively explore the antioxidant potential and phenolic diversity of forest-derived plants, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of forest plant resources, and to promote the application of these plants in the fields of food, medicine, and cosmetics.

Dr. Kristina Zymonė
Guest Editor

Dr. Laura Rimkienė
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Forests 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

  • forest-derived plants
  • antioxidant mechanism
  • antioxidant components, activity and potential
  • phytochemical analysis
  • phenolic compounds and diversity
  • multi-omics technologies
  • phenols quality control

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 2807 KB  
Article
Phenolic Leaf Compounds in Ash Trees (Fraxinus excelsior L.) in the Context of Ash Dieback
by Henriette Häuser, Angela Pilger, Christian Ulrichs and Ralf Kätzel
Forests 2025, 16(9), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16091387 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 646
Abstract
Most ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) in Germany are infected with Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the causative agent of ash dieback (ADB). This study investigates the phenolic content of ash leaves to evaluate their potential as indicators for monitoring ADB and to assess [...] Read more.
Most ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) in Germany are infected with Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the causative agent of ash dieback (ADB). This study investigates the phenolic content of ash leaves to evaluate their potential as indicators for monitoring ADB and to assess how this potential is affected by site and year. Fresh leaf samples were collected and immediately frozen from 14 forest plots across Germany over a period of up to four years. Phenolic compounds were quantified using both photometric assays and HPLC. The results reveal strong site-specific differences in both total phenolic content and individual phenolic profiles. Temporal differences between sampling years were less pronounced, but were frequently significant. In contrast, crown condition—a key indicator of ADB damage—had only a weak effect on phenolic content. This suggests that mature ash trees do not exhibit a clear phenol-based defence response to H. fraxineus under field conditions. Our findings underscore the complexity of phenolic dynamics in natural stands and demonstrate that no robust of phenolic biomarker for ADB could be identified in mature trees. Full article
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