Dietary phytochemicals: As a potential natural source for treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, which seriously impairs human health and life. At present, scientists have proposed more than a dozen hypotheses about the pathogenesis of AD, including the tau propagation hypothesis. However, the exact ultimate pathogenic factor of AD remains unknown. Based on the current hypotheses, some anti-AD drugs (e.g., donepezil and Ketamine) have been developed and used in clinical treatment, which fall into two main categories, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, the former representative drug is donepezil, and the latter representative drug is memantine. Since these drugs have undesirable side effects, it is necessary to find safer alternatives for AD treatment. Interestingly, dietary phytochemicals have the advantages of wide source, safety, and high biological activity, which is the natural route for screening anti-AD drugs. In this study, several representatives’ dietary phytochemicals with anti-AD effect, including resveratrol, lycopene, gallic acid, berberine, ginsenoside Rg1, pseudoginsenoside-F11, ginsenoside Rh2, artemisinin, and torularhodin were selected from the published data over the last 10 years and their potential molecular mechanisms and clinical applications reviewed in the treatment of AD.