Natural products are chemical substances produced by all living organisms and comprise a large variety of chemical structures such as peptides, saccharides, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenes. These compounds have been associated with environmental adaptation by inter-organismal interactions, modulating enzyme activity, opening or blocking ion channels, and inhibiting transporters, as well as receptor agonists or antagonists. Therefore, natural products remain a promising source for drug discovery and can aid in the understanding of the pathophysiology of several diseases. In asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), same with new target identifications, the main available drugs to treat respiratory diseases are beta-2-adrenoceptor agonists, muscarinic antagonists, and glucocorticoids.
This Research Topic aims to highlight the current advances in the use of natural products to improve pathological conditions or relieve signals and symptoms of communicable or non-communicable respiratory diseases.
This Research Topic accepts original articles, reviews, and mini-reviews, including, but not limited to, the following themes:
•
In vivo and
in vitro studies that characterize the mechanisms of action of natural products from bacteria, fungi, plants, or animals, including marine organisms, in the respiratory tract.
• Use of natural products to induce respiratory diseases in animal models or to understand the pathophysiology of these diseases.
• Clinical research on the use of natural products to treat asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, superior or lower respiratory infections, tracheal and lung cancers, and other diseases.
All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here). Please self-assess your MS using the
ConPhyMP tool, and follow the standards established in the
ConPhyMP statement Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. Please note the traditional context including the primary background and modern uses with supporting references must be included in the manuscript introduction.
If your MS involves plant or fungal extracts, check your MS using
this tool.