Plant-Derived Natural Products: A Source for Drug Discovery and Development
Open accessAbstract
For thousands of years, nature has been a source of medical substances, and an astounding numeral of contemporary remedies have been identified from natural origins. Plants have long been used as folk herbal medicines to treat various disorders, and their different natural products have inspired the design, discovery, and development of new drugs. With the invention of recent molecular targets based on proteins, there is a growing need for fresh chemical diversification in screening. Natural products will play a vital part in supplying this need via the continuous exploration of global biodiversity, the majority of which remains unexplored. Even though drug discovery from medicinal plants remains an important source of novel therapeutic leads, various hurdles exist, including identifying and executing suitable high-throughput screening bioassays, scaling up the supply of bioactive molecules, and acquiring plant materials. Investigating these natural resources takes multi-disciplinary, nationwide, and global partnerships in design, synthesis, discovery, and drug development techniques. This review article discusses current advancements and future approaches for discovering natural items such as health- and wellness-promoting remedies. It also summarizes strategies to unify the therapeutic use of plant-derived natural products worldwide to support future drug discoveries derived from plant sources.
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Medicinal plants are a source of bioactive compounds with potential pharmacological benefits, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects.
“These plants are a source of bioactive compounds with potential pharmacological benefits, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects [11,12].”
From Cholinesterase Inhibitors from Plants and Their Potential in Alzheimer’s Treatment: Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Chaachouay, N., & Zidane, L.
- Affiliations
- Université Hassan 1er (MA)
- Université Ibn-Tofail (MA)
- Corresponding author
- Chaachouay, Noureddine
- Venue
- Drugs and Drug Candidates
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-02-19
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 184-207
- ISSN
- 2813-2998 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4391994727
- Cited by
- 1,081
- References
- 192
- Citations by year
- 2026: 381 · 2025: 512 · 2024: 183 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 261.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2024-02-19)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Drugs and Drug Candidates (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Medicinal Plant Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bioactive natural compounds
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies
- Keywords
- plant-derived natural products, drug discovery, medicinal plants, herbal medicine, chemical diversity, bioassay screening, bioactive compounds, biodiversity research
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