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Extraction, Characterization, and Medicinal Value of Plants

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 8133

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Changxing Qi

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Guest Editor

School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Interests: the identification and bioactive of natural products

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products (NPs) from plants and fungi are becoming increasingly important to fields such as medicine, agriculture and food science. These NPs mainly include flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, essential oils, quinones, terpenes, lignans, coumarins, saponins, cardiac glycosides, phenolic acids, amino acids, and enzymes, often play an important role in life activities with their diverse and unique molecular structures. They not only play physiological roles such as signal transduction, nutrition, stress resistance, and defense in their host but also have various pharmacological activities in heterologous sources, and closely related to human life.

The theme of this topic is to collect the latest research progress in the field of NPs chemistry and biology, so as to continuously inject fresh blood into the development of this discipline. This solicitation mainly focuses on three aspects: First, the extraction, separation, structural identification, structural optimization, biological activity, and action mechanism of NPs from plants and fungi; Second, biosynthesis and analysis of NPs from plants and fungi, chemical defense function, identification of bioactive components, and specific bioactivity of plants and fungi essential substances; Third, the excavation, toxicity, safety evaluation, development and utilization of NPs from plants and fungi with special effects.

Dr. Changxing Qi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

natural products
plants
fungi
bioactive
structure identification
isolation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1818 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Nitric Oxide-Donating Ligustrazine Derivatives as Potent Antiplatelet Aggregation Agents

by Han-Xu Li, Jian-Hui Tian, Hua-Yu Li, Xin Wan and Yu Zou

Molecules 2023, 28(8), 3355; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28083355 - 11 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1227

Abstract

Antiplatelet aggregation agents have demonstrated clinical benefits in the treatment of ischemic stroke. In our study, a series of novel nitric oxide (NO)-donating ligustrazine derivatives were designed and synthesized as antiplatelet aggregation agents. They were evaluated for the inhibitory effect on 5′-diphosphate (ADP)-induced and arachidonic acid (AA)-induced platelet aggregation in vitro. The results showed that compound 15d displayed the best activity in both ADP-induced and AA-induced assays, and compound 14a also showed quite better activity than ligustrazine. The preliminary structure-activity relationships of these novel NO-donating ligustrazine derivatives were discussed. Moreover, these compounds were docked with the thromboxane A2 receptor to study the structure-activity relationships. These results suggested that the novel NO-donating ligustrazine derivatives 14a and 15d deserve further study as potent antiplatelet aggregation agents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction, Characterization, and Medicinal Value of Plants)

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14 pages, 9727 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Insight into the Concanavalin A-Induced Apoptosis in Hepatocyte of an Animal Model: Possible Involvement of Caspase-Independent Pathway

by Xiangli Zhao, Cheng Fu, Lingjuan Sun, Hao Feng, Peiling Xie, Meng Wu, Xiaosheng Tan and Gang Chen

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1312; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031312 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1771

Abstract

Concanavalin A (Con A) is known to be a T-cell mitogen and has been shown to induce hepatitis in mice through the triggering of conventional T cells and NKT cells. However, it remains unknown whether Con A itself can directly induce rapid hepatocyte death in the absence of a functional immune system. Here, by using an immunodeficient mouse model, we found Con A rapidly induced liver injury in vivo despite a lack of immunocyte involvement. We further observed in vitro that hepatocytes underwent a dose-dependent but caspase-independent apoptosis in response to Con A stimulation in vitro. Moreover, transcriptome RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that apoptosis pathways were activated in both our in vivo and in vitro models. We conclude that Con A can directly induce rapid but non-classical apoptosis in hepatocytes without the participation of immunocytes. These findings provide new insights into the mechanism of Con A-induced hepatitis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction, Characterization, and Medicinal Value of Plants)

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16 pages, 2948 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Oridonin Induces Apoptosis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Inhibiting Cytoskeletal Protein LASP1 and PDLIM1

by Xiaojun Zhang, Mengtao Xing, Yangcheng Ma, Zhuangli Zhang, Cuipeng Qiu, Xiao Wang, Zhihong Zhao, Zhenyu Ji and Jian-Ying Zhang

Molecules 2023, 28(2), 805; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28020805 - 13 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1602

Abstract

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a severe malignancy for its high mortality and poor prognosis. Mainstay chemotherapies cause serious side effects for their ways of inducing cell death. Oridonin is the main bioactive constituent from natural plants that has anticancer ability and weak side effects. The proteomics method is efficient to understand the anticancer mechanism. However, proteins identified by proteomics aimed at understanding oridonin’s anticancer mechanism is seldom overlapped by different groups. This study used proteomics based on two-dimensional electrophoresis sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE SDS-PAGE) integrated with mass spectrometry and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to understand the anticancer mechanism of oridonin on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The results showed that oridonin induced ESCC cell death via apoptosis by decreasing the protein expression of LASP1 and PDLIM1. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction, Characterization, and Medicinal Value of Plants)

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Review

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29 pages, 1271 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Compiled Update on Nutrition, Phytochemicals, Processing Effects, Analytical Testing and Health Effects of Chenopodium album: A Non-Conventional Edible Plant (NCEP)

by Sukhwinder Singh, Amandeep Singh, Supandeep Singh Hallan, Agnese Brangule, Bhupinder Kumar and Rohit Bhatia

Molecules 2023, 28(13), 4902; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28134902 - 21 Jun 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3070

Abstract

Bathua (Chenopodium album) is a rich source of extensive-ranging nutrients, including bio-active carbohydrates, flavonoids and phenolics, minerals, and vitamins that translate to countless health benefits such as anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activity. Ascaridole, an important phytoconstituent present in aerial parts of the plant, contributes to its anthelmintic property. Even with vast historical use and significant health benefits, its renown has not spread, and utilization has significantly decreased in recent decades. Gradually, the plant has become known under the name of Non-conventional edible plant (NCEP). This compilation is prepared to bring out the plant under the spotlight for further research by foregrounding previous studies on the plant. Scientific research databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, and Wiley Online, were used to fetch data on C. album. This review offers over up-to-date knowledge on nutritious values, phytochemical composition, volatile compounds, as well as health benefits of C. album. The ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal uses of the plant in India and other parts of the world are deliberately discussed. Scrutinizing the reported literature on C. album reveals its powerful nutrient composition advantageous in the development of food products. The impact of various cooking and processing methods on the nutritional profile and bioavailability are discussed. The future perspectives with regards to the potential for food and nutraceutical products are critically addressed. This review proves the necessity of breakthrough research to investigate the pharmacology and safety of phytochemicals and nutraceutical development studies on the C. album. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction, Characterization, and Medicinal Value of Plants)

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