Neuroprotective Natural Products for Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the number one neurovegetative disease, but its treatment options are relatively few and ineffective. In efforts to discover new strategies for AD therapy, natural products have aroused interest in the research community and in the pharmaceutical industry for their neuroprotective activity, targeting different pathological mechanisms associated with AD. A wide variety of natural products from different origins have been evaluated preclinically and clinically for their neuroprotective mechanisms in preventing and attenuating the multifactorial pathologies of AD. This review mainly focuses on the possible neuroprotective mechanisms from natural products that may be beneficial in AD treatment and the natural product mixtures or extracts from different sources that have demonstrated neuroprotective activity in preclinical and/or clinical studies. It is believed that natural product mixtures or extracts containing multiple bioactive compounds that can work additively or synergistically to exhibit multiple neuroprotective mechanisms might be an effective approach in AD drug discovery.

In Vivo Neuropharmacological Potential of Gomphandra tetrandra (Wall.) Sleumer and In-Silico Study against β-Amyloid Precursor Protein

“…Progressively, it damages neuron structure and impairs neuron function, ultimately causing the development of neurodegenerative disorders. ROS-induced oxidative stress is a vital factor in the pathogenesis of AD as it causes the accumulation and deposition of amyloid peptides, hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, modulation of JNK/MAPK stress-activated protein kinase pathways, and oxidation of functional biomolecules [3,[28][29][30]. Therefore, phytochemicals with antioxidant activity, through reduction of oxidative damage, may play a vital role in treating AD.…”

“…Physiologically, AD is caused due to mitochondrial dysfunction, formation of reactive species (oxygen and nitrogen), lipid peroxidation, nitrosative stress, protein aggregation, protein oxidation, amyloidopathy, tauopathies, CREB signaling pathway, GSK-3 hypothesis, DNA damage, depletion of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, proteasome dysfunction, microglial activation, neuroinflammation, neuroepigenetic modification, etc. [1,[3][4][5]. Among these causes, the amyloid hypothesis, neurotransmitter hypothesis, tau propagation hypothesis, and mitochondrial hypothesis were reported to be tested at 22.3%, 19.0%, 12.7%, and 7.9%, respectively, of all clinical trials up to 2019 [6].…”

Pharmacological and Neuroprotective Natural Products in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

“…[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Fig. 2: Neuroprotective Effects from Natural Products for AD [2] Medicinal plants have been found to have the option to diminish AD progress and manifestations. Both the concentrates and the dynamic individual mixtures from restorative plants have been seriously researched for their impacts on AD.…”

“…INTRODUCTION [1][2][3] Alzheimer's disease (AD), found by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906, is presently the main ongoing neurodegenerative illness, influencing more than and around 50 million individuals overall. Age is viewed as the greatest danger factor for AD.…”

Epigallocatechin Gallate Modulates Essential Elements, Zn/Cu Ratio, Hazardous Metal, Lipid Peroxidation, and Antioxidant Activity in the Brain Cortex during Cerebral Ischemia

“…Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a natural compound that mainly exists in fruits and plants to protect against environmental stress [ 1 ]. The rat model displays that EGCG possesses the beneficial properties of anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, EGCG has been shown to exert neuroprotective efficacies that result in increased numbers of neurons and the recovery of motor functions in spinal cord injury and sciatic nerve crush injuries [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”