Natural products as a potential modulator of microglial polarization in neurodegenerative diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 104253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Jin ◽  
Ming-Yan Liu ◽  
Dong-Fang Zhang ◽  
Xin Zhong ◽  
Ke Du ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (34) ◽  
pp. 5790-5828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze Wang ◽  
Chunyang He ◽  
Jing-Shan Shi

Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by the progressive degeneration of the structure and function of the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system. Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) are the common neurodegenerative diseases, which typically occur in people over the age of 60. With the rapid development of an aged society, over 60 million people worldwide are suffering from these uncurable diseases. Therefore, the search for new drugs and therapeutic methods has become an increasingly important research topic. Natural products especially those from the Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs), are the most important sources of drugs, and have received extensive interest among pharmacist. In this review, in order to facilitate further chemical modification of those useful natural products by pharmacists, we will bring together recent studies in single natural compound from TCMs with neuroprotective effect.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (35) ◽  
pp. 4362-4372
Author(s):  
John H. Miller ◽  
Viswanath Das

No effective therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases exist, despite significant attempts to find drugs that can reduce or rescue the debilitating symptoms of tauopathies such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Pick’s disease. A number of in vitro and in vivo models exist for studying neurodegenerative diseases, including cell models employing induced-pluripotent stem cells, cerebral organoids, and animal models of disease. Recent research has focused on microtubulestabilizing agents, either natural products or synthetic compounds that can prevent the axonal destruction caused by tau protein pathologies. Although promising results have come from animal model studies using brainpenetrant natural product microtubule-stabilizing agents, such as paclitaxel analogs that can access the brain, epothilones B and D, and other synthetic compounds such as davunetide or the triazolopyrimidines, early clinical trials in humans have been disappointing. This review aims to summarize the research that has been carried out in this area and discuss the potential for the future development of an effective microtubule stabilizing drug to treat neurodegenerative disease.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Di Paolo ◽  
Luigi Papi ◽  
Federica Gori ◽  
Emanuela Turillazzi

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) represent one of the most important public health problems and concerns, as they are a growing cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, particularly in the elderly. Despite remarkable breakthroughs in our understanding of NDs, there has been little success in developing effective therapies. The use of natural products may offer great potential opportunities in the prevention and therapy of NDs; however, many clinical concerns have arisen regarding their use, mainly focusing on the lack of scientific support or evidence for their efficacy and patient safety. These clinical uncertainties raise critical questions from a bioethical and legal point of view, as considerations relating to patient decisional autonomy, patient safety, and beneficial or non-beneficial care may need to be addressed. This paper does not intend to advocate for or against the use of natural products, but to analyze the ethical framework of their use, with particular attention paid to the principles of biomedical ethics. In conclusion, the notable message that emerges is that natural products may represent a great promise for the treatment of many NDs, even if many unknown issues regarding the efficacy and safety of many natural products still remain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shashank Kumar Maurya ◽  
Neetu Bhattacharya ◽  
Suman Mishra ◽  
Amit Bhattacharya ◽  
Pratibha Banerjee ◽  
...  

Microglia, a type of innate immune cell of the brain, regulates neurogenesis, immunological surveillance, redox imbalance, cognitive and behavioral changes under normal and pathological conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury. Microglia produces a wide variety of cytokines to maintain homeostasis. It also participates in synaptic pruning and regulation of neurons overproduction by phagocytosis of neural precursor cells. The phenotypes of microglia are regulated by the local microenvironment of neurons and astrocytes via interaction with both soluble and membrane-bound mediators. In case of neuron degeneration as observed in acute or chronic neurodegenerative diseases, microglia gets released from the inhibitory effect of neurons and astrocytes, showing activated phenotype either of its dual function. Microglia shows neuroprotective effect by secreting growths factors to heal neurons and clears cell debris through phagocytosis in case of a moderate stimulus. But the same microglia starts releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IFN-γ, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and nitric oxide (NO), increasing neuroinflammation and redox imbalance in the brain under chronic signals. Therefore, pharmacological targeting of microglia would be a promising strategy in the regulation of neuroinflammation, redox imbalance and oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases. Some studies present potentials of natural products like curcumin, resveratrol, cannabidiol, ginsenosides, flavonoids and sulforaphane to suppress activation of microglia. These natural products have also been proposed as effective therapeutics to regulate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. The present review article intends to explain the molecular mechanisms and functions of microglia and molecular dynamics of microglia specific genes and proteins like Iba1 and Tmem119 in neurodegeneration. The possible interventions by curcumin, resveratrol, cannabidiol, ginsenosides, flavonoids and sulforaphane on microglia specific protein Iba1 suggest possibility of natural products mediated regulation of microglia phenotypes and its functions to control redox imbalance and neuroinflammation in management of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis for microglia-mediated therapeutics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Shafika Mohd Sairazi ◽  
K. N. S. Sirajudeen

In recent years, natural products, which originate from plants, animals, and fungi, together with their bioactive compounds have been intensively explored and studied for their therapeutic potentials for various diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, hypertension, reproductive, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are characterized by the progressive dysfunction and loss of neuronal structure and function that resulted in the neuronal cell death. Since the multifactorial pathological mechanisms are associated with neurodegeneration, targeting multiple mechanisms of actions and neuroprotection approach, which involves preventing cell death and restoring the function to damaged neurons, could be promising strategies for the prevention and therapeutic of neurodegenerative diseases. Natural products have emerged as potential neuroprotective agents for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This review focused on the therapeutic potential of natural products and their bioactive compounds to exert a neuroprotective effect on the pathologies of neurodegenerative diseases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Zhao ◽  
Mengxia Zhu ◽  
Mukesh Kumar ◽  
Fung Yin Ngo ◽  
Yinghui Li ◽  
...  

Background & Objective: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) affect an increasing number of the elderly population worldwide. The existing treatments mainly improve the core symptoms of AD and PD in a temporary manner and cause alarming side effects. Naturally occurring flavonoids are well-documented for neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects against various neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, we analyzed the pharmacokinetics of eight potent natural products flavonoids for the druggability and discussed the neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects and the underlying mechanisms. Conclusion: This review provides valuable clues for the development of novel therapeutics against neurodegenerative diseases.


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