Pharmacological Properties of Natural Products and Metabolites

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to provide a focused forum on how the metabolic transformation of natural products determines their biological and pharmacological effects. Emphasis is placed on the continuum from chemical origin to biological function, integrating digestion, abiotic and biotic transformations, microbiota-mediated metabolism, host biotransformation, and bioavailability.

We welcome contributions that explicitly link natural compounds—derived from plant, animal, microbial, marine, or food by-product sources—with their metabolic fate and resulting activity in health and disease. Studies addressing early-stage transformations during digestion, as well as downstream metabolism driven by the gut microbiota and host systems, are particularly encouraged.

The scope includes mechanistic, preclinical, and translational research in pharmacology, drug discovery, and nutrition. Submissions employing metabolomics, biomarker discovery, and advanced analytical approaches to characterize metabolic pathways and functional outcomes are highly relevant. Studies on safety, toxicity, and interactions are also within scope, provided they consider how metabolic processes influence efficacy and risk.

Overall, this Special Issue of Metabolites seeks to advance a mechanistic understanding of how digestion and metabolism shape the activity, bioavailability, and health impact of natural products and their metabolites.

Dr. Vanesa Sánchez-Martín
Dr. Maria Dolores del Castillo
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. Metabolites 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 2700 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.