Nitric Oxide as a Target for Phytochemicals in Anti-Neuroinflammatory Prevention Therapy

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 22; no. 9; p. 4771
• Main Authors: Subedi, Lalita, Gaire, Bhakta Prasad, Parveen, Amna, Kim, Sun-Yeou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 30.04.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Anti-inflammatory agents; Cell death; Central nervous system; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Hypoxia; Inflammation; Ischemia; medicinal plants; Microglial cells; Multiple sclerosis; Neurodegeneration; neuroinflammation; Neurological diseases; Neurotransmitters; Nitric oxide; Oxidative stress; Parkinson's disease; Pathology; Phytochemicals; reactive nitrogen species; Review; nitric oxide; plants derivatives; neuroinflammation; neurodegeneration; reactive nitrogen species; phytochemicals; medicinal plants
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms22094771

Nitric oxide (NO) is a neurotransmitter that mediates the activation and inhibition of inflammatory cascades. Even though physiological NO is required for defense against various pathogens, excessive NO can trigger inflammatory signaling and cell death through reactive nitrogen species-induced oxidative stress. Excessive NO production by activated microglial cells is specifically associated with neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ischemia, hypoxia, multiple sclerosis, and other afflictions of the central nervous system (CNS). Therefore, controlling excessive NO production is a desirable therapeutic strategy for managing various neuroinflammatory disorders. Recently, phytochemicals have attracted considerable attention because of their potential to counteract excessive NO production in CNS disorders. Moreover, phytochemicals and nutraceuticals are typically safe and effective. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of NO production and its involvement in various neurological disorders, and we revisit a number of recently identified phytochemicals which may act as NO inhibitors. This review may help identify novel potent anti-inflammatory agents that can downregulate NO, specifically during neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.