NAtural PRoducts ALERT or NAPRALERT® is a relational database of natural products. Ethnomedical, pharmacological, and biochemical information on extracts of organisms from in vitro, in situ, in vivo, in humans (case reports, non-clinical trials) and clinical studies are included. In addition, similar information is available for metabolites from natural sources.

Data from more than 200,000 sceintific papers and reviews are included in NAPRALERT with about 25% of the database derived from abstracts and 75% from original articles. Organisms from all countries of the world are represented, including marine and microorganisms. In the past we have had the occasion to acquire complete literature on about 250 genera of plants and these data appear in NAPRALERT. The earliest papers date to the late 1800’s. The database was conceived of and developed by the late Norman R. Farnsworth, distinguished professor of pharmacognosy at UIC and first director of the UIC Botanical Center.

We believe that our coverage of the literature is comprehensive from at least 1975 through 2004. Due to budgetary constraints, we estimate the database to currently include only about 20% of the global natural-products literature from 2005 to the present, but we are committed to becoming up-to-date in in the near future, and are currently implementing enhancements that will allow us to streamline and expedite the data-entry process. Stay tuned for further enhancements of the NAPRALERT query process that will be of interest and relevance to the end-user.

Our coverage of the literature in the following areas is quite comprehensive:

• Clinical studies of natural products (including safety)
• Natural products that affect sugar metabolism
• Natural products that affect mammalian reproduction
• Extracts and compounds that affect cancer growth
• Natural products and antiviral (including HIV/AIDS) activity
• Natural products and antitubercular activity
• Natural products and tropical diseases
• Ethnomedical information on more than 20,000 species of plants
• Metabolism and pharmacokinetics
• Natural products that affect plant growth
• Review articles on organisms at the genus and/or species levels and reviews of secondary metabolites (Citations only)
• Chemoprevention with natural products
• Natural insecticides
• Antiinflammatory activity of natural products
• Analgesic activity of natural products
• Plant growth stimulators and inhibitors

Caution: When seeking information on Pharmacological Activity categories, there are many closely-related targets that might relate to a single endpoint. If you cannot retrieve biological data on an activity that you desire, please contact us by e-mail and we will attempt to assist you.

NAPRALERT thrives to offer limited free searches of the database, as well as advancing several levels of fee-based services to the natural product community, including the employment of query structures that users of our former website will be familiar with. The NAPRALERT platform accommodates two query levels.

• Free (with limitations) searching of the NAPRALERT database
  Includes: Organism, Pharmacology, Compound and Author-based queries
• Fee-based searches, charged by number of citations generated
• [CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE] REGISTER NOW to begin using NAPRALERT.