Bioactive Natural Compounds in Neuroscience and Neurodegenerative Disease Therapeutics
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 503
Special Issue Editor
Interests: neurodegenerative disease; aggregation biology; proteostasis; neuromorphology; natural compounds; protein quality control system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Neurodegeneration, memory disorders, and other age-related cognitive diseases are characterized by memory loss, cognitive deficit, and the functional loss of neurons. In spite of having many well-defined factors responsible for neurodegeneration (such as ageing, environmental stress, genetics, and oxidative stress), the aetiology of neurodegenerative diseases is not completely understood yet. As a result, current pharmaceutical therapeutics have failed to treat neurodegenerative diseases. At present, bioactive natural compounds from plants, marine compounds, microorganisms, fungi, and functional food metabolites have drawn attention for being used as neurotropic agents. The study of natural compounds in terms of neuronal growth, development, and plasticity has great potential for treating memory-related diseases. Natural compounds and actives from their metabolites can be used for drug design and as alternative medicine for reversing or slowing down the progression of symptoms in neurodegenerative disease. Natural derivatives like polyphenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins have been reported to modulate many signalling pathways associated with various human diseases and can slow down the disease progression of neurodegeneration in several ways, such as via stress reduction, anti-inflammatory activity, neuronal plasticity enhancement, misfolded protein aggregation inhibition, etc. Many in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies have reported the medicinal use of natural compounds in neuronal growth and maturation, and these compounds play a great role in patient cognitive disease management. While several compounds have shown significant potential in preclinical studies, further research is needed to optimize their bioavailability, delivery, and clinical application. With advancements in nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, and pharmacokinetics, these natural compounds may play a crucial role in the future of neuroscience and neurodegenerative disease management.
In this Special Issue, we welcome in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies or trials and review work focusing on recent advancement in natural compounds or metabolites and their mechanistic roles in alleviating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, etc. We encourage submissions on natural compounds (plant extract, marine compounds, microorganism metabolites, food metabolites, etc.) or single active components and their mechanistic role in controlling neurodegeneration, thereby improving neuronal growth and cognitive function, enhancing neuronal plasticity, and providing overall improvement in quality of life.
The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Plant extracts, marine products, food metabolites with standardized active components, and their role in neuronal development;
- The mechanistic evaluation of active components on neurotropic pathways;
- Natural antioxidants in reducing oxidative stress;
- Memory-boosting activities of natural bioactive components;
- Improved neuronal maturation, memory, and cognitive function in appropriate animal models;
- Single natural compounds in relevant neurotropic or disease-related signaling systems.
Dr. Sarmistha Mitra
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- natural products
- bioactive metabolites
- secondary metabolites
- neuronal development
- neurotrophins
- neuromedicine
- neurodegeneration
- memory disorders
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