Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: A review

Abstract

Medicinal plants have historically proven their value as a source of molecules with therapeutic potential, and nowadays still represent an important pool for the identification of novel drug leads. In the past decades, pharmaceutical industry focused mainly on libraries of synthetic compounds as drug discovery source. They are comparably easy to produce and resupply, and demonstrate good compatibility with established high throughput screening (HTS) platforms. However, at the same time there has been a declining trend in the number of new drugs reaching the market, raising renewed scientific interest in drug discovery from natural sources, despite of its known challenges. In this survey, a brief outline of historical development is provided together with a comprehensive overview of used approaches and recent developments relevant to plant-derived natural product drug discovery. Associated challenges and major strengths of natural product-based drug discovery are critically discussed. A snapshot of the advanced plant-derived natural products that are currently in actively recruiting clinical trials is also presented. Importantly, the transition of a natural compound from a “screening hit” through a “drug lead” to a “marketed drug” is associated with increasingly challenging demands for compound amount, which often cannot be met by re-isolation from the respective plant sources. In this regard, existing alternatives for resupply are also discussed, including different biotechnology approaches and total organic synthesis.While the intrinsic complexity of natural product-based drug discovery necessitates highly integrated interdisciplinary approaches, the reviewed scientific developments, recent technological advances, and research trends clearly indicate that natural products will be among the most important sources of new drugs also in the future.

Microemulsion of Brazil nut oil as a natural product to improve superoxide release in human phagocytes

“…20,21 Some vegetable oils obtained from seeds hold interesting amounts of bioactive compounds, and therefore have become an important field of research. Phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavonols, phytosterols, tocopherols, and anthocyanins, [22][23][24] as well as some fatty acids (oleic, linoleic, and palmitic) present important therapeutic effects in response to pathogenic microorganisms. 25,26 This is due to cellular stimulation, which can be observed by the activation of oxidative metabolism in a modulated form.…”

Drug development: Lessons from nature

“…Natural products are considered to be particularly valuable for the production of various precious lead components ranging from simple chemical structures to highly complex structures. Natural metabolites are always superior in terms of biochemical and pharmacological activities when compared with secondary metabolites (18). The current drug discovery processes arising from natural resources is primarily focused on the isolation, purification, screening and discovery of novel drug candidates.…”

<em>Ocotea quixos </em>essential oil: A systematic review about the ethno-medicinal uses, phytochemistry and biological activity.

“…Recent reviews about research trends and scientific development clearly suggest that natural products will still be for a long time indispensable as sources of new drugs [1,2].…”