Identification of Plant Metabolites: Characterization and Biological Activities, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 948

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Med-icine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hațieganu”, 400347 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: polyphenols; flavonoids; terpenes; antioxidant; antimicrobial; antidiabetic; antiplasmodial; Cucurbitaceae; Lamiaceae
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hațieganu”, 400347 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: morphology; histology and anatomy of plant species; polyphenols and isoquinoline alkaloids; pharmacological activities of medicinal plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

“Identification of Plant Metabolites: Characterization and Biological Activities, 2nd Edition” is a Special Issue aiming to encourage researchers worldwide to discover novel insights concerning natural compounds from natural sources, especially focusing on their biological activities. The COVID-19 pandemic represents an important challenge that researchers have faced in their attempt to establish a common communication platform for the latest discoveries in the area of natural compounds; however, at the same time, this platform opened numerous paths for novel subjects and collaborations. In this context, the present Special Issue aims to provide a platform for exchanging ideas, subjects, and discoveries in the field of plant science, with the hope of providing an excellent opportunity for researchers to offer novel perspectives regarding the characterization of natural metabolites through different separation methods and their corresponding biological activities.

Dr. Irina Ielciu
Dr. Ramona Paltinean
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • natural compounds
  • plant metabolites
  • separation techniques
  • biological activities

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 1901 KiB  
Article
Comparative Effects of Turmeric Secondary Metabolites Across Resorptive Bone Diseases
by Laura E. Wright, Jennifer B. Frye, Andrew G. Kunihiro, Barbara N. Timmermann and Janet L. Funk
Metabolites 2025, 15(4), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15040266 - 11 Apr 2025
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Abstract
Background: Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) rhizomes, whose secondary metabolites include polyphenols and terpenoids, have been used medicinally for millennia. However, modern scientific inquiry has primarily focused on medicinal effects of turmeric’s polyphenolic curcuminoids, including when evaluating turmeric use to maintain bone [...] Read more.
Background: Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) rhizomes, whose secondary metabolites include polyphenols and terpenoids, have been used medicinally for millennia. However, modern scientific inquiry has primarily focused on medicinal effects of turmeric’s polyphenolic curcuminoids, including when evaluating turmeric use to maintain bone health. Methods: Disease-specific biological effects of turmeric’s major secondary metabolites (polyphenols and/or terpenoids), with or without associated turmeric rhizome-derived polysaccharides, were determined in vivo using pre-clinical models of clinically relevant resorptive bone diseases induced by different mechanisms. These included inflammatory arthritis, cancer-driven osteolytic bone metastases, and hormone deficiency-driven post-menopausal osteoporosis. Results: In the arthritis model, the safety profile of curcuminoids alone was superior. However, curcuminoids and terpenoids each had anti-inflammatory effects and prevented bone resorption, with polysaccharide-containing curcuminoid extracts having greater effect than curcuminoids alone. In the human osteolytic breast cancer bone metastases model, curcuminoid extracts containing polysaccharides tended to yield greater effects in reducing bone osteolysis and tumor progression than curcuminoids alone or more complex extracts. In contrast, only purified curcuminoids prevented bone loss in a post-menopausal osteoporosis model, while polysaccharide-containing curcuminoid extracts were without effect. In vitro metabolite effects on disease-specific mechanistic pathways in synoviocytes, osteoclasts, or breast cancer cells were consistent with documented in vivo outcomes and included differential metabolite-specific effects. Conclusions: In summary, these findings suggest that turmeric’s potential medicinal musculoskeletal effects are complex, pathway- and target-specific, and not limited to curcuminoids, with safety concerns potentially limiting certain uses. Full article
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