From Bench to Brain: Medicinal Fungi and Plants in the Context of Neuroinflammation, BBB Pharmacology

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and cerebrovascular conditions including ischaemic stroke and vascular dementia, share a common but underexplored pathological thread: chronic neuroinflammation. Herbal medicine with their multi-component compositions and metabolites isolated from them have the capacity to modulate overlapping inflammatory and neurotoxic cascades and hold significant therapeutic promise. Yet two areas continue to require focused scientific attention: the characterisation of blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration for bioactive or marker compounds, and the translation of mechanistic models into patient-relevant outcome evidence. This Research Topic focuses on the specific pharmacological and translational challenges of getting herbal medicine to work in the brain. Therefore, in this research topic with invite researchers to submit pharmacokinetic and phamacodynamic studies, which address these questions We encourage submissions that centre on CNS-targeted pharmacological mechanisms, assessed with rigorous experimental data and, wherever possible, linked to emerging clinical or real-world evidence.We welcome original research articles, reviews, systematic reviews, and perspective pieces on the following themes:> Neuroinflammation as a shared target: Mechanistic studies examining how herbal preparations or isolated constituents modulate neuroinflammatory pathways across both neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular conditions, with in vitro or in vivo experimental evidence.> BBB penetration and CNS pharmacokinetics: Experimental assessment of plant and fungal extracts and metabolite derived from them for CNS bioavailability, including permeability assays, in vivo brain distribution, P-glycoprotein interactions, and novel delivery strategies to improve BBB crossing.> The gut-brain axis in brain disorders: Ethnopharmacological approaches targeting microbiome-neuroimmune communication, including herbal modulation of gut metabolites (e.g., short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan metabolites) and their downstream effects on brain pathology.> Multi-omics characterisation of mechanistic endpoints: Integration of transcriptomics, metabolomics, or proteomics with experimental pharmacological models to assess robust biomarkers of herbal efficacy in CNS disease.> Cerebrovascular disease and stroke: Studies examining metabolites derived from fungi and plants in models of ischaemia-reperfusion injury, vascular neuroinflammation, or post-stroke neurological recovery.> Translational ethnopharmacology: Studies connecting traditional knowledge and preclinical findings to early-phase clinical data, real-world evidence, or patient-reported outcomes for CNS conditions.All submissions must comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (Heinrich et al., 2020, J. Ethnopharmacol. 246:112230 - https://www.frontiersin.org/files/pdf/4_pillars_FULL_TEXT.pdf) and the ConPhyMP reporting standards (https://ga-online.org/best-practice/). Authors need to consult the ConPhyMP tool and include the completed checklist as supplementary material. Purely in silico studies fall outside the scope of this topic. Network analyses [‘pharmacology’] or AI-based analyses are generally not accepted esp. if they deal with common polyphenolic or pan-assay interfering substances. Such studies may be considered, if they are integrated with substantive experimental pharmacological data and focus on individual metabolites. Ultimately, this Research Topic aims to build a focused, mechanistically rigorous evidence base that strengthens ethnopharmacology’s contribution to understanding how traditional medicines can be safely and effectively assessed for use in some of the most treatment-resistant conditions affecting the brain and vasculature Topic editors: Qihui Wu, Ambika Sahoo, Chuipu Cai Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82888/from-bench-to-brain-medicinal-fungi-and-plants-in-the-context-of-neuroinflammation-bbb-pharmacology