Effects of Natural Products on Neurological Diseases
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Neurobiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 43
Special Issue Editor
Interests: natural product discovery and chemistry; neuropharmacology and drug screening; oxidative stress mechanisms and antioxidant therapeutics; molecular neurobiology of synaptic function; medicinal plant bioactives; signal transduction pathways in neuronal survival; neuroinflammation modulation; structure–activity relationship studies; pharmacokinetics and blood–brain barrier delivery; translational neuroscience and in-vivo modeling
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Neurological disorders—such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and related dementias—pose a growing global burden. These conditions share complex pathophysiological features, including oxidative stress, chronic neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and protein misfolding.
Conventional therapies provide symptomatic relief but do not halt neurodegeneration. Growing evidence indicates that natural products and their derivatives—including polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, peptides, marine metabolites, cannabis-derived cannabinoids, and psychoactive tryptamines such as psilocybin—can modulate these pathways and confer neuroprotection. These compounds exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, activate pro-survival signaling cascades (e.g., PI3K/AKT and BDNF-TrkB-CREB), inhibit acetylcholinesterase activity, and reduce amyloid-β and Tau pathologies.
This Special Issue focuses on the effects of natural products on neurological diseases. We invite submissions on the following topics:
- In vitro and in vivo studies, including animal models;
- Isolation and characterization of neuroactive compounds;
- Structure–activity relationships;
- Pharmacokinetics and blood–brain barrier delivery;
- Combination therapies.
We particularly welcome work addressing challenges such as bioavailability and clinical translation, with the ultimate goal of advancing safe, effective interventions against neurological disorders.
Dr. Maytal Shabat-Simon
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- natural products
- neurodegenerative diseases
- oxidative stress
- neuroinflammation
- amyloid β
- TAU pathology
- PI3K/AKT
- BDNF-TrkB-CREB
- phytochemicals
- neuroprotection
- cannabinoids
- psilocybin/psilocyn
- mitochondrial dysfunction
- blood–brain barrier
- high-throughput screening
- animal models
- structure–activity relationship
- pharmacokinetics
- bioavailability
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