Special Issue "Botany, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology in Traditional Herbal Medicine"

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinals, Herbs, and Specialty Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Riccardo Motti
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Naples, Italy
Interests: floras; alien species invasions; ethnobotany; biodeterioration of historical and archaeological building
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The use of medicinal plants in therapy has long been recognized in all parts of the world. Traditional medicine is an important part of human healthcare, and plants play a key role in this discipline. Medicinal plants can make a great contribution to drug development and serve as the most valuable source for new drug discovery as well as a significant alternative to the current synthetic products. It is estimated that only one-fourth of available medicines are of plant origin, and that these represent only a small fraction of the investigated medicinal plants. Therefore, in this scenario, expanding the knowledge about natural products of plant origin becomes crucial for the improvement of therapeutic tools and for the development of new tools. Chemical composition evaluation is an important tool in understanding the contents and composition of natural products as well as the bioactivity linked to individual compounds or classes of compounds.

In this Special Issue, articles (original research papers, perspectives, hypotheses, opinions, reviews) that focus on plants traditionally used in folk medicine, botany, phytochemical and pharmacological characterization, structure–activity relations, traditional knowledge, and taxonomy, are most welcome.

Dr. Riccardo Motti
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 papers will be 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. Horticulturae 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 1400 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

  • traditional knowledge
  • medicinal plants
  • chemical compounds
  • pharmacological activity
  • phytochemical screening and composition
  • structure–function relationship

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
HPLC Characterization of Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Potential of Alnus nitida (Spach) Endl.
Horticulturae 2021, 7(8), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080232 - 08 Aug 2021
Viewed by 413
Abstract
Antioxidants isolated from plants have attracted the interest of clinicians and common people to be used for systemic uses rather than synthetic antioxidants because of their active role in maintaining human health with minimal side effects. Alnus nitida (Spach) Endl. is an important [...] Read more.
Antioxidants isolated from plants have attracted the interest of clinicians and common people to be used for systemic uses rather than synthetic antioxidants because of their active role in maintaining human health with minimal side effects. Alnus nitida (Spach) Endl. is an important medicinal plant native to western Himalaya and is widely distributed throughout Pakistan. The present study evaluates the phytochemical composition of this plant using HPLC along with the total content of phenolics and flavonoids. The antioxidant activities were determined following the Brand William assay. The methanolic extract (Met. Ext) of leaves, stem bark, seeds, and roots of A. nitida were used to scavenge synthetic free radicals such as DPPH and ABTS. From HPLC fingerprinting of the A. nitida selected portion, six possible phytochemicals were confirmed. Among the identified phytochemicals, there are six compounds (malic acid, chlorogenic acid, epigallocatechin gallate, quercetin, ellagic acid and pyrogallol) in the leaves of A. nitida, three (epigallocatechin gallate, ellagic acid, and pyrogallol) in the stem bark, six in the seeds (malic acid, vitamin C, epigallocatechin gallate, quercetin, ellagic acid, and pyrogallol), and five (malic acid, epigallocatechin gallate, quercetin, and ellagic acid) in root. Comparatively, the highest antioxidant potentials were recorded for the leaves extract (IC50 of 340 and 645 µg/mL against DPPH and ABTS, respectively). The percentages of inhibition were compared with the positive control ascorbic acid, which produced an IC50 value of 60 μg/mL each against the free radicals DPPH and ABTS. The highest phenolics (43.81 mg GAE/g sample) were found in the roots, while the highest flavonoid contents (53.25 mg QE/g sample) were in the leaves. It was assumed that observed antioxidant potentials of the tested plant might be due to their phytochemicals confirmed through HPLC, and thus, this plant may be a valuable candidate in treating oxidative stress and related disorders. However, further investigations are needed to isolate responsible components in pure from. Furthermore, toxicological effects in in vivo animal models are also needed to confirm the results observed in this study. Full article
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