Natural Products in Biomedical Science: Innovations in Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Therapy
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 174
Special Issue Editors
Interests: synthetic organic chemistry; flavonoid chemistry; ethnopharmacology and natural products; structure elucidation; tannin analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: synthetic organic chemistry; catalysis; flavonoid chemistry; stilbenoid chemistry; natural product chemistry; structure elucidation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue, "Natural Products in Biomedical Science: Innovations in Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Therapy", aims to present a comprehensive examination of the therapeutic potential of natural products for the prevention and treatment of inflammation-related disorders. Chronic inflammation is increasingly recognized as a central factor in modern diseases, contributing to conditions such as cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, arthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases. Inflammation and oxidative stress are closely connected biological processes. During inflammatory responses, immune cells generate excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), which cause cellular damage and activate pro-inflammatory pathways such as NF-κB and MAPKs. Antioxidants mitigate these effects by scavenging ROS and enhancing endogenous antioxidant defenses, thereby reducing oxidative damage and suppressing inflammatory mediator production. This interplay makes antioxidants important modulators of inflammation in many chronic diseases. Natural products with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties offer structurally diverse molecules that can modulate key inflammatory pathways, potentially with fewer side effects than conventional drugs. Research in this area deepens our understanding of molecular mechanisms, supports drug discovery, and bridges traditional medicine with modern therapeutics.
We are pleased to invite you to submit your research to our Special Issue. Original research articles are welcome, and research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: advanced extraction, purification, and compound elucidation techniques used in natural product research, ranging from classical solvent-based methods to state-of-the-art chromatographic, spectroscopic, metabolomic, and dereplication approaches; the synthesis of natural products and derivatives; the elucidation of molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, with an emphasis on how phytochemical constituents and secondary metabolites modulate key signaling pathways and immunological responses; and insights into preclinical investigations, addressing the safety and toxicity, efficacy, dosage optimization, pharmacokinetics, and therapeutic indices of bioactive natural compounds.
We are looking forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Susan L. Bonnet
Dr. Charlene Marais
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.
Keywords
- natural products
- medicinal plants
- secondary metabolites
- drug discovery
- anti-inflammatory activity
- antioxidant
- chronic inflammation
- synthesis of anti-inflammatory natural products
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