Introduction
Experimental pharmacology is a branch of medical science that focuses on studying the effects of drugs through controlled laboratory experiments. It involves in vitro (test tube or cell culture), in vivo (animal or human) models, ex vivo (tissues or organs), in silico (computer-based) and genetic/molecular/imaging techniques. Together, these methods enable researchers to understand drug efficacy, safety, and mechanisms before clinical trials. All experiments involving animals must adhere to the 3Rs principle (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) and require approval from ethical review boards such as the Committee for the Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) in India and similar legal organizations upholding the ethical aspects of animal research throughout the world.
This Research Topic aimed to highlight the latest and most innovative experimental techniques and methods used to investigate fundamental pharmacological questions. Various types of papers, such as review articles or opinions on methodologies or applications, including advantages and limitations, were invited with a focus on shedding light on current technologies and up-to-date methods showing promise in helping to advance the field. In this Research Topic, four interesting papers are published, and we will discuss a brief outline of them here.
Vitamia and group designed an interesting two-arm, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial enrolling patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) to investigate the efficacy of an α-mangostin hydrogel film with a chitosan alginate base and was compared with a placebo over 7 days. Currently, they are in the process of recruiting participants for the trial. An earlier study has demonstrated that an in vivo investigation of α-mangostin hydrogel films with a chitosan-alginate base for RAS therapy exhibited a favourable healing response, achieving a healing rate of 93% on the seventh day (Milanda et al., 2022). Similarly, hydrogel film dosage form in transdermal delivery offers several advantages, such as extended and targeted active substance release, enhanced bioavailability, improved solubility, cost efficiency and reduced dosing frequency (Yang and Pierstorff, 2012). These promising reports led them to conduct a clinical trial of α-mangostin hydrogel films with a chitosan-alginate base to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety in treating patients with RAS.
The antifungal drug fluconazole is a third-generation triazole drug widely used to treat systemic and superficial fungal infections (Lee et al., 2021). Irrespective of the broad spectrum of activity and good safety profile, it has limited solubility, requires higher oral doses, and has several negative impacts. Topical dosage forms are available in the market; however, they still face challenges due to limited solubility and skin permeation (Gupta et al., 2010). Cheng et al. have formulated transfersomes of fluconazole to enhance its solubility and, ultimately, antifungal activity. Transfersomes were formulated by a thin-film hydration technique using soya lecithin and Span 80 and evaluated for entrapment efficiency and in vitro drug diffusion. They have used various methods to assess the prepared transfersomes, such as scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), vesicle size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, and antifungal activity. The in vitro and ex vivo drug diffusion and antifungal studies confirmed better diffusion and enhanced antifungal potential of fluconazole in transfersomal formulation. The developed transfersomal gel is postulated as a superior alternative for enhanced fluconazole delivery, highlighting its potential for future clinical applications.
Herbal preparation of Long Mu Qing Xin Mixture (LMQXM) is one among various traditional methods to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder in children (Chen and Xiao, 2016; Li et al., 2023). Li et al. have scrutinized the potential pharmacological mechanisms by which LMQXM improves behaviour in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR/NCrl). They have reported that LMQXM ameliorated hyperactivity and learning and memory deficits of SHR/NCrl rats in addition to upregulated dopamine, norepinephrine, adenylate cyclase and cAMP levels, and the expression of proteins and genes associated with the DRD1/cAMP/PKA-CREB pathway in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum of the rats. This study tentatively suggests that LMQXM may resolve hyperactivity and learning and memory deficits of SHR/NCrl rats by elevating catecholamine neurotransmitters in the PFC and striatum. This elevation of catecholamine neurotransmitters appears to be linked to the activation of the DRD1/cAMP/PKA-CREB signalling pathway, which is expected to yield potentially optimal results at moderate doses.
Aging is a complex, naturally occurring process resulting in a deterioration in cellular homeostasis and increased vulnerability to stressors (Santamaria-Garcia et al., 2023). Reports indicate metabolic diseases expedite human aging (Tang et al., 2013). Sarkar et al. reviewed the scientific evidence exploring potential mechanisms behind the onset and development of cardiovascular and metabolic Research Topic, particularly exacerbated with aging. The age-associated oxidative load and redox imbalance are contributing factors for cardiometabolic morbidities via vascular remodelling and endothelial damage. Recent evidence has claimed the importance of gut microbiota in maintaining regular metabolic activity, which declines with chronological aging and cardiometabolic comorbidities. Genetic mutations, polymorphic changes, and environmental factors strongly correlate with increased vulnerability to aberrant cardiometabolic changes by affecting key physiological pathways. They have suggested that collaborative efforts between healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers are crucial in effectively addressing the challenges of the aging population.
Conclusion
Though this Research Topic has attracted a limited number of papers, experimental pharmacology is an exciting area that provides the scope for drug discovery and evaluation. This process involves preclinical screening before any potential drug candidate proceeds to clinical study. All four papers are very interesting and cover a mixture of four different areas. We believe that this Research Topic has addressed a few critical areas under the category of Experimental Pharmacology, which may inspire the readers for their research.
Statements
Author contributions
SA: Conceptualization, Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. AK: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing. KB: Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declare that no Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
1
ChenX. F.XiaoZ. (2016). Study on the clinical efficacy of Long Mu Qing Xin Mixture in the treatment of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. China J. Basic Med. Traditional. Chin. Med.22 (10), 1366–1368+1381. 10.19945/j.cnki.issn.1006-3250.2016.10.029
2
GuptaM.GoyalA. K.PaliwalS. R.PaliwalR.MishraN.VaidyaB.et al (2010). Development and characterization of effective topical liposomal system for localized treatment of cutaneous candidiasis. J. Liposome Res.20 (4), 341–350. 10.3109/08982101003596125
3
LeeY.PuumalaE.RobbinsN.CowenL. E. (2021). Antifungal drug resistance: molecular mechanisms in Candida albicans and beyond. Chem. Rev.121 (6), 3390–3411. 10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00199
4
LiX.XiaoZ.PuW.JiangZ.WangS.ZhangY. (2023). Network pharmacology, molecular docking, and experimental validation to explore the potential mechanism of Long Mu Qing Xin mixture for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Front. Pharmacol.14, 1144907. 10.3389/fphar.2023.1144907
5
MilandaT.Cindana Mo'oF. R.MohammedA. F. A.ElaminK. M.WilarG.SuharyaniI.et al (2022). Alginate/chitosan-based hydrogel film containing α-mangostin for recurrent aphthous stomatitis therapy in rats. Pharmaceutics14 (8), 1709. 10.3390/pharmaceutics14081709
6
Santamaria-GarciaH.Sainz-BallesterosA.HernandezH.MoguilnerS.MaitoM.Ochoa-RosalesC.et al (2023). Factors associated with healthy aging in Latin American populations. Nat. Med.29 (9), 2248–2258. 10.1038/s41591-023-02495-1
7
TangZ.WangC.SongX.ShiJ.MitnitskiA.FangX.et al (2013). Co-occurrence of cardiometabolic diseases and frailty in older Chinese adults in the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Age Ageing42 (3), 346–351. 10.1093/ageing/aft004
8
YangW.-W.PierstorffE. (2012). Reservoir-based polymer drug delivery systems. J. Lab. Autom.17 (1), 50–58. 10.1177/2211068211428189
Summary
Keywords
experimental pharmacology, animal model, stomatitis, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), aging
Citation
Arumugam S, Khurana A and Bharani KK (2025) Editorial: Methods in experimental pharmacology 2023. Front. Pharmacol. 16:1531464. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1531464
Received
20 November 2024
Accepted
07 January 2025
Published
21 January 2025
Volume
16 - 2025
Edited and reviewed by
Filippo Drago, University of Catania, Italy
Updates
Copyright
© 2025 Arumugam, Khurana and Bharani.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Somasundaram Arumugam, somasundaram.niperk@nic.in, somasundaram143@gmail.com
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.