Editorial: pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of plant extracts and natural products.

Abstract

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].