scholarly journals Natural Compounds: A Dynamic Field of Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M. L. Seca ◽  
Laila Moujir
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Food Industries ◽  
Dynamic Field ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Active Research

Nature represents an amazing source of inspiration since it produces a great diversity of natural compounds selected by evolution, which exhibit multiple biological activities and applications. A large and very active research field is dedicated to identifying biosynthesized compounds, to improve/develop new methodologies to produce/reuse natural compounds and to assess their potential for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries, among others, and also to understand their mechanism of action. Here, the main results presented in each work are highlighted. The applications suggested are mostly related to pharmacological uses and involve mainly pure natural compounds and essential oils. These works are significant contributions and reinforce the dynamic field of natural products applications.

scholarly journals Natural Products Targeting the Mitochondria in Cancers

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Yue Yang ◽  
Ping-Ya He ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Ning Li
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Anticancer Drugs ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Antitumor Effects ◽  
Regulate Cell Growth ◽  
Anticancer Drug Discovery

There are abundant sources of anticancer drugs in nature that have a broad prospect in anticancer drug discovery. Natural compounds, with biological activities extracted from plants and marine and microbial metabolites, have significant antitumor effects, but their mechanisms are various. In addition to providing energy to cells, mitochondria are involved in processes, such as cell differentiation, cell signaling, and cell apoptosis, and they have the ability to regulate cell growth and cell cycle. Summing up recent data on how natural products regulate mitochondria is valuable for the development of anticancer drugs. This review focuses on natural products that have shown antitumor effects via regulating mitochondria. The search was done in PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases, over a 5-year period, between 2015 and 2020, with a keyword search that focused on natural products, natural compounds, phytomedicine, Chinese medicine, antitumor, and mitochondria. Many natural products have been studied to have antitumor effects on different cells and can be further processed into useful drugs to treat cancer. In the process of searching for valuable new drugs, natural products such as terpenoids, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, coumarins, and quinones cover the broad space.

scholarly journals Targeting Autophagy with Natural Compounds in Cancer: A Renewed Perspective from Molecular Mechanisms to Targeted Therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Xie ◽  
Yi Chen ◽  
Huidan Tan ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Ling-Li Zheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Signaling Pathways ◽  
Small Molecule ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Therapeutic Benefits ◽  
Small Molecule Drugs

Natural products are well-characterized to have pharmacological or biological activities that can be of therapeutic benefits for cancer therapy, which also provide an important source of inspiration for discovery of potential novel small-molecule drugs. In the past three decades, accumulating evidence has revealed that natural products can modulate a series of key autophagic signaling pathways and display therapeutic effects in different types of human cancers. In this review, we focus on summarizing some representative natural active compounds, mainly including curcumin, resveratrol, paclitaxel, Bufalin, and Ursolic acid that may ultimately trigger cancer cell death through the regulation of some key autophagic signaling pathways, such as RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK, PI3K-AKT-mTOR, AMPK, ULK1, Beclin-1, Atg5 and p53. Taken together, these inspiring findings would shed light on exploiting more natural compounds as candidate small-molecule drugs, by targeting the crucial pathways of autophagy for the future cancer therapy.

The Study of Several Synthesis Methods of Indolizidine (±)-209I and (±)-209B as Natural Alkaloids

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 516-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Mohajer ◽  
Ghodsi Mohammadi Ziarani ◽  
Razieh Moradi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Synthesis Methods

Natural products have received much attention due to their importance and application. Indolizidine, categorized as an alkaloid, has several biological activities. The synthesis of natural compounds such as indolizidines has attracted much attention from many chemists’ and researchers’ perspectives. There are many areas to be explored in this subject; that is why synthesizing indolizidine 209I and (±)-indolizidine 209B as natural compounds have received much consideration. This review discloses the procedures and methodology to provide (±)-indolizidine 209I and 209B due to the importance of indolizidines.

3,4-Dihydroisocoumarins, Interesting Natural Products: Isolation, Organic Syntheses and Biological Activities

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelio Ortiz ◽  
Miriam Castro ◽  
Estibaliz Sansinenea
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Bacterial Strains ◽  
Drug Candidates ◽  
Heterocyclic Molecules ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Different Sources

Background:3,4-dihydroisocoumarins are an important small group belonging to the class of naturally occurring lactones isolated from different bacterial strains, molds, lichens, and plants. The structures of these natural compounds show various types of substitution in their basic skeleton and this variability influences deeply their biological activities. These lactones are structural subunits of several natural products and serve as useful intermediates in the synthesis of different heterocyclic molecules, which exhibit a wide range of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antiplasmodial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiangiogenic and antitumoral activities, among others. Their syntheses have attracted attention of many researchers reporting many synthetic strategies to achieve 3,4-dihydroisocoumarins and other related structures. </P><P> Objective: In this context, the isolation of these natural compounds from different sources, their syntheses and biological activities are reviewed, adding the most recent advances and related developments.Conclusion:This review aims to encourage further work on the isolation and synthesis of this class of natural products. It would be beneficial for synthetic as well as the medicinal chemists to design selective, optimized dihydroisocoumarin derivatives as potential drug candidates, since dihydroisocoumarin scaffolds have significant utility in the development of therapeutically relevant and biologically active compounds.

scholarly journals Biological Properties of Some Volatile Phenylpropanoids

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1934578X1601101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radmila Ilijeva ◽  
Gerhard Buchbauer
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Anticancer Activities ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Prevention And Treatment ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industries ◽  
Almost All

Plants and their extracts are the new field of interest for many scientists and also of some pharmaceutical industries. In order to provide more information for their usage in the prevention and treatment of diseases many clinical trials and researches are being carried out. In this review the biological activities and the mechanism of action of volatile phenylpropanoids (PPs) found in essential oils (EOs) are presented. The aim of this overview is to show that volatile PPs found in EOs can exert many of the biological activities which are generally attributed to EOs. Almost all of the PPs possess antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. These are related to the different substitution of the phenylpropane molecule. For each isolated group not only one, but more pharmacological activities can be credited.

scholarly journals Euphorbia-Derived Natural Products with Potential for Use in Health Maintenance

Biomolecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salehi ◽  
Iriti ◽  
Vitalini ◽  
Antolak ◽  
Pawlikowska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Secondary Metabolites ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Health Maintenance ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Microbial Infections ◽  
Pure Compounds

Euphorbia genus (Euphorbiaceae family), which is the third largest genus of angiosperm plants comprising ca. 2000 recognized species, is used all over the world in traditional medicine, especially in the traditional Chinese medicine. Members of this taxa are promptly recognizable by their specialized inflorescences and latex. In this review, an overview of Euphorbia-derived natural products such as essential oils, extracts, and pure compounds, active in a broad range of biological activities, and with potential usages in health maintenance, is described. The chemical composition of essential oils from Euphorbia species revealed the presence of more than 80 phytochemicals, mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons, while Euphorbia extracts contain secondary metabolites such as sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, sterols, flavonoids, and other polyphenols. The extracts and secondary metabolites from Euphorbia plants may act as active principles of medicines for the treatment of many human ailments, mainly inflammation, cancer, and microbial infections. Besides, Euphorbia-derived products have great potential as a source of bioactive extracts and pure compounds, which can be used to promote longevity with more health.

Fracture Mechanics

1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1271-1275 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Mechanics ◽  
Solid Mechanics ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Crack Tip ◽  
Fatigue Loading ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Fault Dynamics ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Active Research ◽  
Fracture Processes

Fracture mechanics is an active research field that is currently advancing on many fronts. This appraisal of research trends and opportunities notes the promising developments of nonlinear fracture mechanics in recent years and cites some of the challenges in dealing with topics such as ductile-brittle transitions, failure under substantial plasticity or creep, crack tip processes under fatigue loading, and the need for new methodologies for effective fracture analysis of composite materials. Continued focus on microscale fracture processes by work at the interface of solid mechanics and materials science holds promise for understanding the atomistics of brittle vs ductile response and the mechanisms of microvoid nucleation and growth in various materials. Critical experiments to characterize crack tip processes and separation mechanisms are a pervasive need. Fracture phenomena in the contexts of geotechnology and earthquake fault dynamics also provide important research challenges.

scholarly journals Fungal Biofilms as a Valuable Target for the Discovery of Natural Products That Cope with the Resistance of Medically Important Fungi—Latest Findings

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1053
Author(s):  
Estefanía Butassi ◽  
Laura Svetaz ◽  
María Cecilia Carpinella ◽  
Thomas Efferth ◽  
Susana Zacchino
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Candida Spp ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
In Vivo Testing ◽  
Brazilian Propolis ◽  
Cryptococcus Spp

The development of new antifungal agents that target biofilms is an urgent need. Natural products, mainly from the plant kingdom, represent an invaluable source of these entities. The present review provides an update (2017–May 2021) on the available information on essential oils, propolis, extracts from plants, algae, lichens and microorganisms, compounds from different natural sources and nanosystems containing natural products with the capacity to in vitro or in vivo modulate fungal biofilms. The search yielded 42 articles; seven involved essential oils, two Brazilian propolis, six plant extracts and one of each, extracts from lichens and algae/cyanobacteria. Twenty articles deal with the antibiofilm effect of pure natural compounds, with 10 of them including studies of the mechanism of action and five dealing with natural compounds included in nanosystems. Thirty-seven manuscripts evaluated Candida spp. biofilms and two tested Fusarium and Cryptococcus spp. Only one manuscript involved Aspergillus fumigatus. From the data presented here, it is clear that the search of natural products with activity against fungal biofilms has been a highly active area of research in recent years. However, it also reveals the necessity of deepening the studies by (i) evaluating the effect of natural products on biofilms formed by the newly emerged and worrisome health-care associated fungi, C. auris, as well as on other non-albicans Candida spp., Cryptococcus sp. and filamentous fungi; (ii) elucidating the mechanisms of action of the most active natural products; (iii) increasing the in vivo testing.

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