Medicinal Plants and Brain Health: From Extracts to Formulations

The use of traditional medicines, primarily derived from plants, is as old as civilization, and it has been used or is still being used in all regions of the world for promoting brain health and treating neurological conditions. While the efficacy of many plant-based remedies is undeniable, sometimes even without thorough scientific documentation, their full potential remains widely acknowledged albeit unevenly quantified. Whereas western methods emphasized the extraction of active components from plants and consequent synthesis of these compounds, a vast population consisting of hundreds of millions to billions of people continue to rely on traditional medicines and plant-based treatments.

With the aging global population and a rise in environmental and genetic risk factors, the world is witnessing an increasingly high prevalence of neurodegenerative conditions, with many of them defying the standard treatment regimen. By harnessing the therapeutic potentials of plant extracts and their active compounds, there lies a crucial opportunity for researchers (Physicians, Neuroscientists, Biomedical scientists etc.) to mitigate the impacts of these conditions, potentially improving patient outcomes and behavioral health, and reverting neuropathologies. This traditional knowledge, combined with modern scientific inquiry, could unlock significant healthcare advances.

This Research Topic aims to explore the therapeutic potential and mechanisms by which medicinal plants can enhance cognitive function and protect against neurological disorders. The increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropathologies (Alzhemier’s, Parkison’s disease and related mental health issues, brain related cancer, etc) is placing a growing burden on resources, but solutions can be discovered through research. Specifically, this Research Topic also seeks to solve the problems of increased metal concentrations in the brain, increased lipid peroxidation from environmental stressors, and increased ageing population and related dementia. Addressing these concerns could significantly reduce the burden on healthcare resources and improve quality of life for affected populations. We wish to highlight those extracts that have shown promise so that they can be investigated further. Ultimately, we aim to isolate active compounds, test them, and evaluate appropriate doses. It is important to note that this Research Topic does not intend to imply that medicinal plants should be taken as a replacement for approved pharmacological treatments, but rather it is an exploration of alternative options for patients where the pharmacological treatment has been unsuccessful or is not accessible by patients, or where it can be used in conjunction with approved and effective pharmacological treatment to further support treatment.

We welcome high quality manuscripts in the form of any article type accepted by the journal related to plants, plant extracts and pure compounds that improve brain health, behaviour and structure of neurodegenerative diseases and treatment of brain tumors using models of cell culture, invertebrates, animal models and human clinical trials. Specifically, we welcome articles addressing but not limited to the following topics:
- Examining plants, extracts and related pure compounds that can act as metal chelators in relatively non-competitive manner to address increased metal concentrations in the brain.
- Discovering plant products that cross the blood brain barrier and improve brain health by reducing oxidative stress and increasing inherent brain antioxidants.
- Exploring plant extracts and related pure compounds that improve behavioral deficits caused by Alzhemier’s, Parkison’s disease and related mental health issues, brain related cancer, etc, as well as those that alleviate and revert these pathologies.
- Identifying compounds that reduce age related neurodegeneration through alleviation of structural decay, and behavioral deficits particularly memory decline.

Studies must comply with the best practice guidelines of the leading journals for pharmacological studies on plant extract / natural products including the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology and follow the standards established in the ConPhyMP statement Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. A detailed description of the material studied, its extraction, and processing is essential and manuscripts that lack such a description will be desk-rejected. You can freely download the full version here (https://ga-online.org/best-practice). Please self-assess your manuscript using the ConPhyMP tool. Purely in silico studies are outside of the scope of Frontiers in Pharmacology (e.g. network studies)

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: medicinal plants, ethnopharmacology, drug discovery, neurodegeneration, neurotherapeutics, blood brain barrier

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.