Monoamine oxidase inhibitory effects of medicinal plants in management of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease is the most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder that effects large population of society, especially elderly people. Environmental and/or genetic factors contribute Alzheimer's disease to become a pivotal health problem but this relationship remains ambiguous. Globally growing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease requires to understand cellular pathways that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and to develop new strategies for prevention and treatment. Elevated monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes activity with age is associated with etiology of Alzheimer's disease. Inhibition of monoamine oxidase enzyme can protect from neuronal damage, thus it became one of the key pathway for management of Alzheimer’s disease. Using bioactive compounds from medicinal plants as potential monoamine oxidase inhibitors might be a better solution considering undesired side effects of synthetic drugs on human body. The purpose of this review is to implicate the importance of pharmacophore analysis which explains pharmacological properties of medicinal plants and interaction of bioactive compounds from plants with MAO enzyme.