Bioactive Peptides from Natural Sources: Current Applications and Future Directions

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2024 | Viewed by 749

Special Issue Editors


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LAFMOL–Laboratory of Functional and Molecular Studies in Physiopharmacology, Department of Biophysics and Physiology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina 64049-550, Brazil
Interests: bioactive peptides; cardiovascular; diabetes; dyslipidemia; endothelium; hypertension; medicinal plants; natural products; pharmacology; preclinical toxicology; vasorelaxant
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Research Center in Applied Morphology and Immunology (NuPMIA), Faculty of Medicine (FM), University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília 70910-900, DF, Brazil
Interests: biotechnology; bionanotechnology; bioprospection; biomolecules; health and environment
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LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Interests: secondary metabolites; natural antioxidants; in vitro, in vivo, and in silico models; structure–activity relationship; natural product chemistry; oxidative stress and antioxidant defense; free-radical-mediated chain reactions; extraction and separation methods; antioxidant ingredients and biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Venomous animals are considered specialized predators which have developed the most sophisticated apparatus regarding chemistry and pharmacology of bioactive peptides, able to produce a wide range of toxins with incredible structural and functional diversity and directed against a variety of pharmacological targets and with potential therapeutic applications.

For example, studies on the molecular characterization of toxins from Bothrops jararaca snake venom resulted in the discovery of bradykinin and bradykinin-potentiating peptides (BPPs), recognized as the first natural inhibitors of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) and a model for the development of captopril, the first ACE inhibitor and the first commercially available drug for the treatment of arterial hypertension. In this sense, several peptides obtained from venoms of amphibians, snakes, scorpions, and spiders have been reported in the literature as important bioactive compounds with important pharmacological effects and potential therapeutic applications.

The aim of this Special Issue is to report the current advances in bioactive peptides from natural sources. Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: discovery and characterization of novel bioactive peptides, including pharmacological studies and the development of bioproducts. We are inviting the submission of original research articles or reviews that relate to the above topics.

Dr. Daniel Dias Rufino Arcanjo
Prof. Dr. José Roberto Souza Almeida Leite
Dr. Alexandra Plácido
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioactivity
  • synthesis
  • pharmacology
  • toxicology
  • immunogenicity
  • snake venom
  • scorpion venom
  • skin secretion
  • nanoparticles
  • bioassays

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 5747 KiB  
Article
Bioactive Properties of Venoms Isolated from Whiptail Stingrays and the Search for Molecular Mechanisms and Targets
by Craig A. Doupnik, Carl A. Luer, Catherine J. Walsh, Jessica Restivo and Jacqueline Xinlan Brick
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(4), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17040488 - 11 Apr 2024
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Abstract
The venom-containing barb attached to their ‘whip-like’ tail provides stingrays a defensive mechanism for evading predators such as sharks. From human encounters, dermal stingray envenomation is characterized by intense pain often followed by tissue necrosis occurring over several days to weeks. The bioactive [...] Read more.
The venom-containing barb attached to their ‘whip-like’ tail provides stingrays a defensive mechanism for evading predators such as sharks. From human encounters, dermal stingray envenomation is characterized by intense pain often followed by tissue necrosis occurring over several days to weeks. The bioactive components in stingray venoms (SRVs) and their molecular targets and mechanisms that mediate these complex responses are not well understood. Given the utility of venom-derived proteins from other venomous species for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, we set out to characterize the bioactivity of SRV extracts from three local species that belong to the Dasyatoidea ‘whiptail’ superfamily. Multiple cell-based assays were used to quantify and compare the in vitro effects of these SRVs on different cell lines. All three SRVs demonstrated concentration-dependent growth-inhibitory effects on three different human cell lines tested. In contrast, a mouse fibrosarcoma cell line was markedly resistant to all three SRVs, indicating the molecular target(s) for mediating the SRV effects are not expressed on these cells. The multifunctional SRV responses were characterized by an acute disruption of cell adhesion leading to apoptosis. These findings aim to guide future investigations of individual SRV proteins and their molecular targets for potential use in biomedical applications. Full article
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