Essential Oil Phytocomplex Activity, a Review with a Focus on Multivariate Analysis for a Network Pharmacology-Informed Phytogenomic Approach

Abstract

Thanks to omic disciplines and a systems biology approach, the study of essential oils and phytocomplexes has been lately rolling on a faster track. While metabolomic fingerprinting can provide an effective strategy to characterize essential oil contents, network pharmacology is revealing itself as an adequate, holistic platform to study the collective effects of herbal products and their multi-component and multi-target mediated mechanisms. Multivariate analysis can be applied to analyze the effects of essential oils, possibly overcoming the reductionist limits of bioactivity-guided fractionation and purification of single components. Thanks to the fast evolution of bioinformatics and database availability, disease-target networks relevant to a growing number of phytocomplexes are being developed. With the same potential actionability of pharmacogenomic data, phytogenomics could be performed based on relevant disease-target networks to inform and personalize phytocomplex therapeutic application.

Effect of the Distillation Time on the Chemical Composition, Antioxidant Potential and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils from Different Cannabis sativa L. Cultivars

“…Regarding the influence of the essential oils’ composition on bioactivity, not only the major compounds are responsible for antimicrobial activity, as already demonstrated by testing the effect of these compounds alone on several bacteria [ 18 ], but often molecules in small amounts could act in synergy, promoting the antimicrobial effect or, on the contrary, acting as antagonists of the biological activity. In fact, the biological activity of essential oils is normally attributed to the most significant molecule(s) based on the composition, but these single purified molecules, if used alone, do not possess the same biological activity, which is attributed instead to the combination of many different molecules collectively affecting the biological activity [ 33 ]. These interactions could explain the different activity observed in this study in essential oils of the same cultivars after different distillation times.…”

Spirulina Microalgae and Brain Health: A Scoping Review of Experimental and Clinical Evidence

“…The identification of phytocomplexes worthy of being studied in clinical trials requires modern approaches, such as virtual screening and systems biology [ 74 ], to strengthen the development process of algae-based drugs. Computational studies could provide some crucial information on the ADME properties of potential active ingredients or phytocomplexes, and the molecular docking studies could intercept their interactions and binding affinities with molecular targets [ 75 ]. The results obtained through a systems biology approach will allow to identify potential interactions with target molecules and cell signaling pathways at the systemic level.…”

Network Pharmacology Approach for Medicinal Plants: Review and Assessment

“…Network pharmacology has evolved into a strong method for uncovering complicated biological interactions systematically. Network pharmacology uses “omics” techniques to detect variations at core molecular and cellular levels in terms of a specific pathophysiology or pharmacological treatment [ 9 , 131 , 132 ]. The obtained dataset aids in the generation of networks that describe molecular processes from the genetic to the metabolomics level.…”

“…The main omics approaches used in network pharmacology are epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Because there are so many molecular pathways and epigenetic effects on the phenotypic expressions of diseases, hence, a systems biology approach based on innovative modeling approaches is essential for investigating gene–environment interactions and therapy success [ 132 , 133 , 134 ]. The study of epigenetic alterations has yielded a wealth of information about prognostically important genes.…”