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Review
. 2018 Dec 11;23(12):3283.
doi: 10.3390/molecules23123283.

The Potential Use of Plant Natural Products and Plant Extracts with Antioxidant Properties for the Prevention/Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases: In Vitro, In Vivo and Clinical Trials

Franziska Pohl  1 , Paul Kong Thoo Lin  2
Affiliations
Review

The Potential Use of Plant Natural Products and Plant Extracts with Antioxidant Properties for the Prevention/Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases: In Vitro, In Vivo and Clinical Trials

Franziska Pohl et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, present a major health issue and financial burden for health care systems around the world. The impact of these diseases will further increase over the next decades due to increasing life expectancies. No cure is currently available for the treatment of these conditions; only drugs, which merely alleviate the symptoms. Oxidative stress has long been associated with neurodegeneration, whether as a cause or as part of the downstream results caused by other factors. Thus, the use of antioxidants to counter cellular oxidative stress within the nervous system has been suggested as a potential treatment option for neurological disorders. Over the last decade, significant research has focused on the potential use of natural antioxidants to target oxidative stress. However, clinical trial results have lacked success for the treatment of patients with neurological disorders. The knowledge that natural extracts show other positive molecular activities in addition to antioxidant activity, however, has led to further research of natural extracts for their potential use as prevention or treatment/management of neurodegenerative diseases. This review will cover several in vitro and in vivo research studies, as well as clinical trials, and highlight the potential of natural antioxidants.

Keywords: Ginkgo biloba; antioxidants; clinical trials; in vitro; in vivo; natural products; phenolics; phytochemicals; plant extracts; secondary metabolites.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Examples of drug targets for neurodegeneration.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Difference between the normal and the disease state of oxidative stress balance adapted from Poljsak et al. [29].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Causes of oxidative stress in neurodegeneration, AD—Alzheimer’s disease, SCA—Spinocerebellar Ataxia, PD—Parkinsons disease, HD—Huntington’s disease, ALS—Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, adapted from [32,33].
Figure 4
Figure 4
General natural Antioxidants categorized with examples, adapted from [16,34,35].
Figure 5
Figure 5
In vitro and in vivo models of neurodegenerative disease discussed in this review.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Structure of antioxidant flavonoids.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Phenolics from plants.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Structure of vanillin.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Structure of ellagic acid.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Natural products used in the study of aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Structure of anthocyanins.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Structure of resveratrol.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Natural products used in combination treatment.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Structure of (A) sinapic acid and (B) ferulic acid.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Structure of sulforaphane.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Structure of caffeine.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Structure of huperzine A.
Figure 18
Figure 18
(a) Ginkgo leaf (b) ginkgolides.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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