Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Publication Source
Neural Regeneration Research
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (hereafter AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system. There are multiple factors that cause AD, viz., accumulation of extracellular Amyloid-beta 42 plaques, intracellular hyper-phosphorylated Tau tangles, generation of reactive oxygen species due to mitochondrial dysfunction and genetic mutations. The plaques and tau tangles trigger aberrant signaling, which eventually cause cell death of the neurons. As a result, there is shrinkage of brain, cognitive defects, behavioral and psychological problems. To date, there is no direct cure for AD. Thus, scientists have been testing various strategies like screening for the small inhibitor molecule library or natural products that may block or prevent onset of AD. Historically, natural products have been used in many cultures for the treatment of various diseases. The research on natural products have gained importance as the active compounds extracted from them have medicinal values with reduced side effects, and they are bioavailable. The natural products may target the proteins or members of signaling pathways that get altered in specific diseases. Many natural products are being tested in various animal model systems for their role as a potential therapeutic target for AD, and to address questions about how these natural products can rescue AD or other neurodegenerative disorders. Some of these products are in clinical trials and results are promising because of their neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-amyloidogenic, anticholinesterase activities and easy availability. This review summarizes the use of animal model systems to identify natural products, which may serve as potential therapeutic targets for AD.
ISBN/ISSN
1321-1329
Document Version
Published Version
Copyright
Source of Support: Schuellein Chair Endowment Fund to AS supports PD and Graduate program of Biology supports NG. This work was supported by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) - 1 R15 GM124654-01, Schuellein Chair Endowment Fund (to AS), STEM Catalyst Grant from University of Dayton and start-up support from UD (to AS), Conflict of Interest: None
Publisher
Wolters Kluwer
Volume
14
Peer Reviewed
yes
Issue
8
Sponsoring Agency
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) - 1 R15 GM124654-01
eCommons Citation
Deshpande P, Gogia N, Singh A. Exploring the efficacy of natural products in alleviating Alzheimer’s disease. Neural Regen Res 2019;14:1321-9
Included in
Biology Commons, Biotechnology Commons, Cell Biology Commons, Genetics Commons, Microbiology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons
Comments
Neural Regeneration Research is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.