Editorial

It seems like yesterday that we celebrated the 60th birthday of Planta Medica in 2013, and yet the 61st year has passed as well: sixty-one years of exciting research on medicinal plants and natural products collected in 80 volumes. In 2014 Planta Medica again published 18 issues, including a special issue entitled “Bioassays and Models – Guidelines and Recommendations for Testing”, edited by the Guest Editor Prof. Pia Vuorela. This issue contained 8 contributions with valuable information for any scientist involved in pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of plant extracts and natural products. As in previous years, Planta Medica also published the abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP), held in conjunction with the 14th Oxford International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB), August 2–6, Oxford, MS (issue 10), as well as the abstracts of the 62nd International Congress and Annual Meeting of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA), August 31 – Sept. 4, Guimarães, Portugal. Several interesting reviews on a wide range of topics have been published in the regular issues, including reflections on drug origin [1], [2], [3], topical application of St. Johnʼs Wort [4] and medicinal herbs in the treatment of Alzheimer Disease [5].

• References

• 1 Santhosh RA, Suriyanarayanan B. Plants: a source for new antimycobacterial drugs. Planta Med 2014; 80: 9-21
• 2 De Paula RC, Dolabela MF, De Oliveira AB. Aspidosperma species as sources of antimalarials. Part III. A review of traditional use and antimalarial activity. Planta Med 2014; 80: 378-386
• 3 Bharti S, Rani N, Krishnamurthy B, Arya DS. Preclinical evidence for the pharmacological actions of naringin: a review. Planta Med 2014; 80: 437-451
• 4 Wölfle U, Seelinger G, Schempp CM. Topical application of St. Johnʼs wort. Planta Med 2014; 80: 109-120
• 5 Kim MH, Kim S, Yang WM. Mechanisms of action of phytochemicals from medicinal herbs in the treatment of Alzheimerʼs disease. Planta Med 2014; 80: 1249-1258
• 6 Kwon DY, Jung YS, Kim SJ, Kim YS, Cho DW, Kim YC. Alterations in sulfur amino acid metabolism in mice treated with silymarin: A novel mechanism of its action involved in enhancement of the antioxidant defense in liver. Planta Med 2013; 79: 997-1002