Natural Ion-Channel Modulators in Cardiovascular Disease: From Ethnopharmacology to Drug Discovery

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, yet the therapeutic options for ion-channel-mediated disorders — arrhythmia, hypertension, and cardiac dysfunction — are constrained by adverse effects, limited target selectivity, and emerging drug resistance. Medicinal plants and fungi represent a structurally diverse and underexplored reservoir of ion-channel modulators, validated across centuries of ethnopharmacological use.This Research Topic integrates ethnobotanical knowledge with modern electrophysiology, natural product chemistry, and translational pharmacology to evaluate plant- and fungal-derived compounds as cardioprotective, antiarrhythmic, and vaso-regulatory agents. The primary focus is on voltage-gated sodium (Naᵥ), calcium (Caᵥ), and potassium (Kᵥ/Kᵢᵣ/K_ATP) channels, together with HCN and TRP channels. Contributions addressing ion-channel modulation in neurological or metabolic contexts where cardiovascular outcomes are relevant are also welcome.We invite submissions on:- Ethnopharmacological documentation and bioactivity-guided fractionation of cardioprotective plant/fungal materials- Electrophysiological characterisation of bioactive metabolites (patch-clamp, MEA, or in silico ion-channel modelling)- Structure–activity relationships and molecular docking of natural ion-channel modulators- In vitro and in vivo cardiovascular pharmacology- Network pharmacology and systems biology approaches linking traditional remedies to ion-channel targets- Translational and clinical perspectives on safety, selectivity, and therapeutic potentialAll submissions must comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology and the ConPhyMP statement (Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205). Full documentation of material origin, authentication, extraction, and processing is mandatory — manuscripts lacking this information will be desk-rejected. Guidelines and the self-assessment tool are at: https://ga-online.org/best-practice/Both original research and review articles are welcome. Topic editors: Arquimedes Gasparotto Junior, Emerson Lourenço Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/75990/natural-ion-channel-modulators-in-cardiovascular-disease-from-ethnopharmacology-to-drug-discovery