Marine Natural Products and Gut Microbiota: From Interactions to Metabolic Health
A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine-Derived Ingredients for Drugs, Cosmeceuticals and Nutraceuticals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 920
Editors
Interests: functional foods; precise nutrition; gut microbiota
Interests: natural product; marine microbiota; metabolic health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Gut dysbiosis, impaired intestinal barrier integrity, and chronic inflammation are now recognized as central drivers of metabolic disorders, including obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Despite advances in the field, effective nutritional interventions remain limited.
The ocean represents an underexplored reservoir of structurally unique bioactive compounds. Marine natural products, particularly polysaccharides such as fucoidan, alginate, and chitosan, as well as polyphenols and peptides, have shown promising abilities to modulate gut microbiota composition, enhance intestinal barrier function, regulate microbial metabolites such as SCFAs, indole derivatives, and secondary bile acids, and alleviate gut inflammation.
This Special Issue aims to highlight cutting-edge research on marine natural products for gut health, with a strong emphasis on molecular targets and mechanistic insights. We welcome innovative approaches, including in vitro fermentation models, in vivo studies, organoid and 3D co-culture systems, as well as multi-omics analyses. Contributions exploring synergistic combinations with probiotics, prebiotics, or other bioactive agents are particularly encouraged. Papers addressing the immunomodulatory and barrier protective effects of marine compounds, whether used alone or alongside existing therapies, are also of great interest.
We invite researchers from academia and industry to submit original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and concept papers that advance our understanding of marine-derived interventions for gut and metabolic health.
Dr. Xiaoqiong Li
Prof. Dr. Yadong Zhao
Guest Editors
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs 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 2900 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
- marine polysaccharides
- gut microbiota
- metabolic health
- intestinal barrier
- prebiotic
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