Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other dementias, are becoming one of the main causes of disability, hospitalization, and mortality. According to the World Health Organization (2020), over 55 million people worldwide are diagnosed with dementia, with the number predicted to rise to 130 million by 2050. The rapidly increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is bringing significant public health problems. Traditional medicine and phytochemicals, which typically contain abundant chemical scaffolds and multiple targets, are proving to be an invaluable chemical library for novel drug development against neurodegenerative diseases. Previous clinical evidence and pharmacological studies have demonstrated that traditional medical practice and plant-derived natural products have the capacity to alleviate cognitive impairment, motor dysfunction, emotional instability, etc. Unfortunately, the intricate ingredients and the indistinct molecular mechanisms severely hinder the advance.
In recent years, interdisciplinary collaboration strategy has achieved remarkable success in speeding up drug discovery and mechanism elucidation. Multiple omics technologies (such as genomics, transcriptomic, proteomics, and metabolomics) have been applied for high-throughput screening and target identification. Computational models and systems pharmacology approaches based on big data of biomedicine are emerging as promising modes of drug research and development. As the field is growing fast, this Research Topic aims to showcase the application of interdisciplinary study strategy in the investigation of traditional medicine and phytochemicals against neurodegenerative disease. We expect to see the convergence of pharmacology and advanced technologies in related subfields, such as multi-omics methods, artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, neuroimaging, etc, for novel target identification, therapeutic discovery, and mechanisms elucidation, to address issues at the bridge between traditional medicine/phytochemicals and neurodegenerative disease therapies.
We encourage Original Research, Review, and Perspective papers focusing on, but not limited to, the following aspects:
• New insights into the novel phytochemicals, therapeutic targets, and molecular mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases.
• Identification of biologically active ingredients and exploration of underlying mechanisms against neurodegenerative diseases for traditional medicine.
• Novel computational approaches for drug discovery or elucidating underlying mechanisms related to neurodegenerative diseases.
• Omics-based investigation of pathological mechanism or pharmacological mechanism of traditional medicines/phytochemicals for neurodegenerative diseases.
• Application of real-world data in therapeutic benefit evaluation of traditional medicines or natural products for neurodegenerative diseases.
• Neuroimaging studies on the exploration of the modulation effects and mechanisms of traditional medicines or phytochemicals against neurodegenerative diseases.
• Interdisciplinary technologies, databases, or frameworks to accelerate the development of new anti-neurodegenerative disease therapeutic strategies deriving from traditional medicines or phytochemicals.
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other dementias, are becoming one of the main causes of disability, hospitalization, and mortality. According to the World Health Organization (2020), over 55 million people worldwide are diagnosed with dementia, with the number predicted to rise to 130 million by 2050. The rapidly increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is bringing significant public health problems. Traditional medicine and phytochemicals, which typically contain abundant chemical scaffolds and multiple targets, are proving to be an invaluable chemical library for novel drug development against neurodegenerative diseases. Previous clinical evidence and pharmacological studies have demonstrated that traditional medical practice and plant-derived natural products have the capacity to alleviate cognitive impairment, motor dysfunction, emotional instability, etc. Unfortunately, the intricate ingredients and the indistinct molecular mechanisms severely hinder the advance.
In recent years, interdisciplinary collaboration strategy has achieved remarkable success in speeding up drug discovery and mechanism elucidation. Multiple omics technologies (such as genomics, transcriptomic, proteomics, and metabolomics) have been applied for high-throughput screening and target identification. Computational models and systems pharmacology approaches based on big data of biomedicine are emerging as promising modes of drug research and development. As the field is growing fast, this Research Topic aims to showcase the application of interdisciplinary study strategy in the investigation of traditional medicine and phytochemicals against neurodegenerative disease. We expect to see the convergence of pharmacology and advanced technologies in related subfields, such as multi-omics methods, artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, neuroimaging, etc, for novel target identification, therapeutic discovery, and mechanisms elucidation, to address issues at the bridge between traditional medicine/phytochemicals and neurodegenerative disease therapies.
We encourage Original Research, Review, and Perspective papers focusing on, but not limited to, the following aspects:
• New insights into the novel phytochemicals, therapeutic targets, and molecular mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases.
• Identification of biologically active ingredients and exploration of underlying mechanisms against neurodegenerative diseases for traditional medicine.
• Novel computational approaches for drug discovery or elucidating underlying mechanisms related to neurodegenerative diseases.
• Omics-based investigation of pathological mechanism or pharmacological mechanism of traditional medicines/phytochemicals for neurodegenerative diseases.
• Application of real-world data in therapeutic benefit evaluation of traditional medicines or natural products for neurodegenerative diseases.
• Neuroimaging studies on the exploration of the modulation effects and mechanisms of traditional medicines or phytochemicals against neurodegenerative diseases.
• Interdisciplinary technologies, databases, or frameworks to accelerate the development of new anti-neurodegenerative disease therapeutic strategies deriving from traditional medicines or phytochemicals.
