Functional Evaluation of Natural Products Using Traditional, Alternative, and Emerging Animal Models

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

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. 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.