Functional Evaluation of Natural Products Using Traditional, Alternative, and Emerging Animal Models
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 129
Special Issue Editor
Interests: obesity; diabetes; metabolic syndrome; natural product; zebrafish; molecular biology; pharmacology; drug screening
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural products represent a valuable source of bioactive compounds with diverse pharmacological activities; however, their functional validation and translational evaluation remain major challenges. Alongside conventional mammalian models, alternative and emerging animal models have recently attracted considerable attention as complementary in vivo platforms that enable the rapid, cost-effective, and mechanistically informative assessment of natural products.
This Special Issue of Molecules will focus on the functional evaluation of natural products using a broad spectrum of experimental animal models, ranging from traditional models such as mice and rats to alternative and emerging organisms, including zebrafish, Drosophila, and Caenorhabditis elegans. By integrating data across different model systems, these approaches provide unique opportunities to bridge phenotype-based screening with mechanistic and translational research.
We invite original research articles and reviews that employ innovative experimental designs, comparative model analyses, or multi-scale functional assays to elucidate the biological effects, safety, and modes of action of natural products. This Special Issue aims to promote cross-model perspectives and methodological advances that enhance the reliability and translational relevance of natural product research.
Dr. Liqing Zang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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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
- animal models
- traditional and alternative models
- emerging model organisms
- functional evaluation
- phenotype-based screening
- translational pharmacology
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