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Natural Compounds for Disease and Health, 3rd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 721

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: natural products; cardiovascular pharmacology; regulation of vascular tone; angiogenesis; ischemic injury; nucleoside transporters
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Interests: phytomedicine; angiogenesis; tumor- associated macrophages; tumor microenvironment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the world seeing many advancements in medicine, we have more diseases than ever before. Acute and chronic diseases place a heavy burden on the healthcare system since patients are usually required to take medications for a certain period or time, or even for life, to treat or limit the deterioration in their diseases. In addition to drug treatment and lifestyle modification, many people also choose to consume natural products that claim to be safe and have beneficial effects on our health. Therefore, there has been an exponential increase in the number of preclinical and clinical studies related to the pharmacology of natural products. Some interesting active ingredients have been found, which may serve as the lead compounds for the development of novel therapeutic agents.

For this Special Issue entitled “Natural Compounds for Disease and Health, 3rd Edition”, we invite researchers to present their novel data on the pharmacological actions of natural products and their active ingredients, which have potential implications for the treatment of various diseases and the promotion of health. Original papers or reviews are welcome.

Dr. George P.H. Leung
Dr. Jingjing Li
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
  • phytochemistry
  • structure–activity relationship
  • mechanisms of action
  • anti-aging
  • cancer
  • cardiovascular diseases
  • digestive diseases
  • endocrine disorders
  • immune diseases
  • infections
  • inflammation
  • liver diseases
  • metabolic diseases
  • musculoskeletal diseases
  • neurodegenerative diseases
  • pain
  • psychiatric diseases
  • renal diseases
  • respiratory diseases

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 651 KB  
Article
Anti-Helicobacter pylori and Anti-Inflammatory Sesquiterpenoids from the Rhizoma of Atractylodes macrocephala
by So Yeong Jeong, Dong-Min Kang, Hyun-Jun Kim, Sang Won Yeon, Hak Hyun Lee, Min Hee Kim, Bang Yeon Hwang, Mi-Jeong Ahn and Mi Kyeong Lee
Molecules 2025, 30(15), 3142; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30153142 - 26 Jul 2025
Viewed by 510
Abstract
Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium found in the stomach, is associated with various gastrointestinal and systemic health conditions. Effective suppression of H. pylori is therefore critical for managing gastrointestinal diseases. In a search for natural products with anti-H. pylori activity, the [...] Read more.
Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium found in the stomach, is associated with various gastrointestinal and systemic health conditions. Effective suppression of H. pylori is therefore critical for managing gastrointestinal diseases. In a search for natural products with anti-H. pylori activity, the extract of Atractylodes macrocephala rhizoma showed significant inhibitory effects. Chromatographic purification of A. macrocephala extract yielded thirteen compounds, which were identified as ten sesquiterpenes and three polyacetylenes by spectroscopic analysis. The sesquiterpene compounds belong to the eudesmane or eudesmane lactone types and exhibited structure-dependent efficacy. The major eudesmane lactone sesquiterpene, atractylenolide I (1), showed strong inhibitory activity comparable to metronidazole, a positive control, and atractylenolide III (3) also showed good efficacy. However, structural modification such as hydroxylation, methylation, or acetylation of the sesquiterpenes led to reduced activity. In contrast, polyacetylene derivatives displayed only mild inhibitory effects. Further evaluation of the active compounds against three H. pylori strains such as 51, 43504, and 26695 showed that atractylenolide I (1) had potent inhibitory effects against all three strains, with MIC50 values of ranging from 27.3 to 48.6 μM and MIC90 values from 45.4 to 87.2 μM. Atractylenolide III (3) exhibited selective activity against strain 51 with MIC50 value of 89.9 μM. Both compounds also exhibited anti-inflammatory activity with IC90 values of 23.3 and 31.1 μM, respectively, although they showed little effect on urease. This is the first report on the anti-H. pylori efficacy of various constituents of A. macrocephala and comparative analysis of inhibitory effects against several strains, which will provide scientific evidence supporting its potential as therapeutic agent for H. pylori-related infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Compounds for Disease and Health, 3rd Edition)
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