Advanced Methods for Natural Product Drug Discovery in the Field of Nutraceuticals

Abstract

Advances in analytical methods and bioassay development have helped to push forward the research in natural products. In plant extracts and nutraceuticals, bioactive compounds are part of a complex mixture. The development of high-resolution methods related to HPLC for both chemical and biological profiling has significantly increased the efficiency of classical bioactivity-guided fractionation procedures. Furthermore, the level of sensitivity obtained by these methods give the possibility to work with few micrograms of compound. This represents a key advantage for rapid localisation of the biological activity and subsequent identification of the compounds of interest. The same methods are also used to study the extracts from a metabolomic view point. The possibility to study them as a whole can highlight synergetic effects, which are likely to occur in plant extracts and nutraceuticals. In this paper, the main trends are summarised and the developments made in our laboratory on profiling crude extracts with UHPLC-TOF-MS, natural product identification at the microgram level using microflow NMR and integration of these methods with biological evaluation are highlighted.

The pharmaceutical industry and natural products: historical status and new trends

“…nutraceutical functional food) (Wolfender et al 2011). The notable concerns, especially when dealing with plant extracts is the presence of potential pesticides and heavy metals as per the requirements of the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) (Zhang et al 2010).…”

High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Ultra‐high Pressure Liquid Chromatography of Plants: Basic Concepts

“…In plant research, HPLC in all its varieties is one of its most important analytical tools (Wolfender et al, 2011).…”

“…Third, all parts of the HPLC system such as mixers, injectors, capillaries, or fittings must tolerate the pressure maximum generated by the pump. Figure 10 shows an impressive example of how the peak capacity can be improved from HPLC to UHPLC (Wolfender et al, 2011). The peaks in the second chromatogram are much narrower because the UHPLC column has the threefold number of theoretical plates compared to the original one.…”

Functional, antioxidant, antimicrobial potential and food safety applications of Curcuma longa and Cuminum cyminum

“…The compounds present in these plants materials responsible for healing potential are usually called bioactive compounds, which can be utilized for new drug development. In food, they are termed as phytonutrients or functional food working as disease preventives (Wolfender et al, 2011;Georgiev, 2014).…”