Protection and Healing in the Digestive System and Other Tissues: Novel Factors, Mechanisms, and Pharmaceutical Targets

In recent years we have witnessed an increase in our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for gastrointestinal (GI) integrity, protection and ulcer healing. This marks a historical milestone in the development of new pharmacological agents used in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease and other chronic GI-disorders. Despite the extensive and multidisciplinary research during recent years, and the growing evidence on the anatomical and physiological lines of mucosal defense, the functional aspects of protection and healing still need to be better understood.

This Research Topic is dedicated to presenting recent advances in the understanding of GI-tract manifestations and the central and peripheral molecular regulators of new mechanisms of GI ulceration and healing including, for instance, mucosal repair which involves cellular restitution and lasts seconds and minutes as well as the organ healing involving the proliferation and maturation phases lasting hours and days.
Therefore, this Research Topic attempts to cover a new field of pertinent scientific research. For example, Robert's prostaglandin cytoprotection concept is still one of the most fascinating concepts in science development although not fully credited for ulcer healing, this may be particular to conceptual disagreements. However, we will be looking forward to novel local and systemic mechanisms, molecules and agents that would be able to improve this concept by pharmacological therapy. Therefore, it seems interesting and worthy to review this topic, which has captured the interest of many basic and clinical investigators for many years, and gives the opportunity to present their most recent findings, including development of new medicines, pharmacological tools and new approaches to protect or/and heal GI-tract acute injuries and chronic ulcers.

We welcome high-quality manuscripts on topics including but not limited to advanced research in vivo and in vitro at functional and molecular levels with use of both physiological and pharmacological methods and approaches to evaluate overall experimental and clinical health impacts. The classic modes of prevention/management of gastrointestinal ulceration and healing or their transformation into new concepts and the treatment of gastrointestinal ulceration and healing of wounds is expected to be reviewed. This is particularly important for acquiring new vistas for therapy of GI-tract disturbances, erosions, wounds, ulcerations and cancers in order to establish the relationship between other tissues’ healing and therapy frontlines.