Pharmacological Actions of Phytoconstituents on Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) have over the years become a growing cause for concern and it is increasingly becoming a major health problem associated with impairment, ageing of the brain and other neuropathological conditions. These include Parkinson’s disease, Dementia, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer disease, and Depression. Due to increase in prevalence of various NDs over the years, there is growing need to provide suitable means by which the disease can be mitigated. Various pharmacological agents are being researched on to investigate the most suitable and effective means to curb these diseases. This review was aimed at perusing therapeutic potentials of various pharmacological agents in the treatment of NDs. Over a hundred research papers, from Pubmed, NCBI, BMC med, Neurosci etc published on NDs treatments via phytochemicals within the past two decades were analysed. This review will help guide research on pharmacological agents with a wider range treatment options for NDs. Curcumins were most frequently studied for all NDs management. Other commonly used pharmacological agents are resveratrol, epigallocatechin n-gallate (ECGC) and l-theanine. In the management of NDs, curcumin is found to normalize altered mechanisms associated with caspase-3 level, TNF-α, COX-2, NO, iNOS, PGE2, IL-6, Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), IL-1β, insulin-degrading enzymes, apoptosis, inflammation, mitochondria dysfunction, inhibitory activity of AChE, and cell viability. It was surmised from the study that curcumin, resveratrol, ECGC and L-theanine are the most common and effective classes of phytochemicals for a wide range of NDs management.