Natural Anti-inflammatory Compounds as Drug Candidates in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by memory impairment, dementia, and oxidative stress in elderly people. Currently, only a few drugs are available in the market with various adverse effects. Therefore, to develop new drugs with protective action against the disease, research is turning to the identification of plant products as a remedy. Natural compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could be good candidates for developing effective therapeutic strategies. Phytochemicals, including Curcumin, Resveratrol, Quercetin, Huperzine-A, Rosmarinic acid, genistein, obovatol, and Oxyresvertarol, were reported molecules for the treatment of AD. Several alkaloids, such as galantamine, oridonin, glaucocalyxin B, tetrandrine, berberine and anatabine, have been shown anti-inflammatory effects in AD models in vitro as well as in-vivo. In conclusion, natural products from plants represent interesting candidates for the treatment of AD. This review highlights the potential of specific compounds from natural products along with their synthetic derivatives to counteract AD in the CNS.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Amyloid precursor protein flavonoids; BACE-1; microglia; natural products; phytochemicals.