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Life
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Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Human Diseases—3rd Edition
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Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Human Diseases—3rd Edition

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 July 2026 | Viewed by 1195

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Seung Ho Lee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Nano-Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, Republic of Korea
Interests: natural products; natural extracts; cancer; neurodegenerative diseases; immunological disorders; metabolic diseases; oriental medicine; micro-organisms; algae; functional foods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products are compounds or substances produced by the living organisms found in nature. Since natural sources are considered potential resources for the development of lead compounds in drug discovery, a significant number of studies have focused on finding new therapeutic effects of natural products on human diseases, such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, immunological disorders, and metabolic diseases.

This Special Issue of Life, entitled “Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Human Diseases—3rd Edition”, welcomes submissions of either research manuscripts or scientific reviews covering the therapeutic effects of various natural products (plants, microorganisms, algae, foods, animals, etc.) on human diseases. In particular, we are keen to publish mechanistic studies, evaluated by in vitro and/or in vivo experiments, to identify major molecules and/or cellular pathways of the targeted therapeutic action of natural compounds.

Previous Special Issues:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/special_issues/1I6AUEYCF3
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life/special_issues/U1NQR36P0Y

Prof. Dr. Seung Ho Lee
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Life 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

  • natural products
  • natural extracts
  • cancer
  • neurodegenerative diseases
  • immunological disorders
  • metabolic diseases
  • oriental medicine
  • microorganisms
  • algae
  • functional foods

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2508 KB  
Article
Bioactive Compounds, Antibacterial, Antioxidant, Anticancer, and Antidiabetic Potential of the Seed and Leaves of Tribulus terrestris
by Sahar Abdulaziz AlSedairy, Ibrahim M. Aziz, Rawan M. Alshalan, Mohamed A. Farrag, Abdulaziz M. Almuqrin, Amal Khalaf Alghamdi and Reem M. Aljowaie
Life 2025, 15(12), 1799; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15121799 - 24 Nov 2025
Viewed by 999
Abstract
Background: Tribulus terrestris is a medicinal plant used in traditional medicine to treat certain illnesses. Though past efforts mostly focused on the fruits and roots, current research examined the phytochemical composition and bioactivity of leaf extract (LE) and seed extract (SE). Methods: GC-MS [...] Read more.
Background: Tribulus terrestris is a medicinal plant used in traditional medicine to treat certain illnesses. Though past efforts mostly focused on the fruits and roots, current research examined the phytochemical composition and bioactivity of leaf extract (LE) and seed extract (SE). Methods: GC-MS compared phytochemical profiles, and total phenolic and flavonoid content were determined. The extracts were tested for antibacterial activity (disc diffusion, MIC/MBC), antioxidant potential (DPPH, ABTS+), cytotoxicity (MTT assay in MCF-7 and HepG2 cells), and anti-diabetic activity (α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition). Expression of apoptotic genes was also investigated. Results: The LE had a superior phytochemical composition, with greater phenolic and flavonoid levels. Compared to SE, it exhibited considerably higher antibacterial activity (MIC = 6.25–25 μg/mL), antioxidant potential (IC50 = 90.71–113.41 μg/mL), cytotoxicity (IC50 = 105.12–126.14 μg/mL), and enzyme inhibition (IC50 = 84–96.62 μg/mL). The LE also drastically reduced the expression of anti-apoptotic genes Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL in cancer cells. T. terrestris LE has significantly higher bioactive potential than SE in a range of pharmacological arenas due to its superior phytochemically complete profile. Conclusions: The findings indicate the LE as a promising candidate for the development of standardized phytotherapeutically active compounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Therapeutic Effects of Natural Products on Human Diseases—3rd Edition)
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