Alzheimer's disease: natural products as inhibitors of neuroinflammation

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and affects 44 million people worldwide. New emerging evidence from pre-clinical and clinical investigations shows that neuroinflammation is a major pathological component of AD suggesting that anti-inflammatory strategies are important in delaying the onset or slowing the progression of the disease. However, efforts to employ current anti-inflammatory agents in AD clinical trials have produced limited success. Consequently, there is a need to explore anti-inflammatory natural products, which target neuroinflammatory pathways relevant to AD pathogenesis. This review summarises important druggable molecular targets of neuroinflammation and presents classes of anti-neuroinflammatory natural products with potentials for preventing and reducing symptoms of AD.

Keywords: Alkaloids; Marine natural products; NF-κB; Polyphenols; Terpenes.

Fig. 1

Examples of some anti-neuroinflammatory alkaloids

Fig. 2

Examples of some anti-neuroinflammatory flavonoids and polyphenols

Fig. 2

Examples of some anti-neuroinflammatory flavonoids and polyphenols

Fig. 2

Examples of some anti-neuroinflammatory flavonoids and polyphenols

Fig. 3

Examples of some anti-neuroinflammatory terpenoids

Fig. 4

Summary of molecular targets of anti-neuroinflammatory natural products action involving the transcription factors NF-κB and Nrf2