This Research Topic is part of a series with:
Traditional Medicines and Natural Products for Liver Diseases: Pharmacology, and Toxicology in the Context of Drug Discovery and Herbal Medicine Use - Volume IThe gut is one of the most versatile organs for humans and animals. In recent years, more and more research has revealed that the gut has close relationships with many other organs, such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, and breasts. Gut microbes have close relationships with their hosts and play an important role in the physiological activities of humans and animals. More and more research has revealed that gut microbes can adjust the functions of the hosts' major organs, such as the liver, kidneys, brain, lungs, and breasts. In other words, the Gut-X Axis has become a hot research topic in recent years.
Herbal medicines have been used globally in the treatment of human and animal diseases for thousands of years. Traditional Chinese herbal medicines, such as Glycyrrhiza spp. and Astragalus membranaceus Bunge, are examples of botanical drugs that have significant effects on the treatment of immune depression by adjusting the gut microbe. Silybum marianum, originally distributed in the Mediterranean and other parts of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, is now widely used to treat various liver diseases and modify the gut microbe. The active natural products in traditional Chinese medicine have also been studied on the Gut-X Axis, such as Atractylodes macrocephala polysaccharide (AMP). Therefore, research on the pharmacology, toxicology, microbiology, and action mechanism of traditional medicines and active natural products via the Gut-X Axis is essential to better understand their efficacy and to expand the development of drugs for the treatment of clinical diseases.
The aim of this Research Topic is to focus on the latest scientific contributions of traditional medical traditions globally and their active metabolites in the prevention and treatment of diseases via the Gut-X Axis, as well as their pharmacological, toxicological, and microbiological perspectives. It encourages researchers to explore active metabolites, the efficacy and pharmacological activity of chemically defined extracts, action mechanisms, and the establishment of new models for diseases via the Gut-X Axis.
Original research articles (including high-quality clinical studies complying with international standards), descriptive and systematic reviews, as well as perspective papers and general commentaries, and Policy and Practice Reviews are welcome. This Research Topic invites a focus on the following main themes:
• Discovery of active metabolites for the treatment of diseases via the Gut-X Axis.
• Experimental studies exploring the mechanism of action of herbal medicine and natural products on Gut-X Axis diseases.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of herbal medicines and natural products on Gut-X Axis diseases.
• Pharmacological and toxicological studies on herbal medicine and natural products in treating complications of diseases via the Gut-X Axis, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatic fibrosis, parkinsonism, cow mastitis, and chronic kidney disease.
• Studies of the mechanisms of action and novel molecular and cellular pathways of traditional medicines and natural products used for diseases via the Gut-X Axis.
• Herbal medicine and natural product research on liver-related multi-organ treatment strategies are also welcome, such as the gut-liver-kidney axis, gut-liver-breast axis, or brain-gut-liver axis.
All manuscripts must fully comply with the four pillars of best practice in ethnopharmacology. With these guidelines, we define in detail what constitutes best practice for manuscripts submitted to "Frontiers in Pharmacology," Section Ethnopharmacology. They provide a basis for peer review and build on the general requirements of "Frontiers in Pharmacology" (see
here). We draw your attention specifically to the need for a full description of the material under investigation (Pillar 2, see also the ConPhyMP statement: Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.953205 and https://ga-online.org/best-practice/).) and the need for a pharmacologically relevant and plausible approach (Pillar 1).