Natural Compounds for Alzheimer's Disease Therapy: A Systematic Review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 20; no. 9; p. 2313
• Main Authors: Andrade, Stephanie, Ramalho, Maria João, Loureiro, Joana Angélica, Pereira, Maria do Carmo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 10.05.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; animal studies; bioactive compound; clinical trial; Cytotoxicity; human studies; in vitro studies; Nanoparticles; natural extract; neurodegenerative disease; Peptides; Review; tau protein; β-amyloid peptide; clinical trial; neurodegenerative disease; in vitro studies; natural extract; animal studies; β-amyloid peptide; bioactive compound; tau protein; human studies
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms20092313

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder related with the increase of age and it is the main cause of dementia in the world. AD affects cognitive functions, such as memory, with an intensity that leads to several functional losses. The continuous increase of AD incidence demands for an urgent development of effective therapeutic strategies. Despite the extensive research on this disease, only a few drugs able to delay the progression of the disease are currently available. In the last years, several compounds with pharmacological activities isolated from plants, animals and microorganisms, revealed to have beneficial effects for the treatment of AD, targeting different pathological mechanisms. Thus, a wide range of natural compounds may play a relevant role in the prevention of AD and have proven to be efficient in different preclinical and clinical studies. This work aims to review the natural compounds that until this date were described as having significant benefits for this neurological disease, focusing on studies that present clinical trials.