The neurodegenerative diseases, or dementias, are characterized by progressive and irreversible degeneration of the neurons from specific regions of the brain. The pattern of neuronal loss is selective and compromises one or more groups of neurons, without affecting the others. An interesting aspect of these dementias is them arise without any apparent triggering stimulus and in patients with no history of neurological deficits. Alzheimer’s disease is the most prominent of these dementias, accounting for 60-80% of total dementia cases worldwide.
The Alzheimer’s disease is a multifactorial, progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of cholinergic neurons in the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex, mainly affecting cholinergic …show more content…
The recent description of an immunomodulatory circuit for the neural inhibition of inflammation, called the "cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway," has aroused keen interest in the class of cholinergic agents. Thus, the natural products have been a constant source of new approaches for the treatment of AD, especially alkaloids. For example, galantamine (Galanthus woronowii), is a selective inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, allosteric modulator of the central nicotinic receptor, inhibits βA aggregation and promotes hippocampal neurogenesis. Berberis (Berberis mahonia) is IChE, inhibits the formation and aggregation of βA and reduces hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in some in vitro systems. Other alkaloids of different plant species showed significant cholinesterase inhibitory activity, such as the triterpenoid alkaloids isolated from Buxus hyrcana (Orthan et al., 2004), the steroidal alkaloids from Buxus papillosa (Babar et al., 2006), the indole glucoalkaloids from Chimarrhis turbinata (Cardoso et al., 2004), the monoterpene alkaloids from Hippeastrum argentinum (Ortiz et al., 2016), the indole alkaloids from Rauvolfia reflexa (Fadaeinasab et al.,
The Alzheimer’s disease is a multifactorial, progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of cholinergic neurons in the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex, mainly affecting cholinergic …show more content…
The recent description of an immunomodulatory circuit for the neural inhibition of inflammation, called the "cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway," has aroused keen interest in the class of cholinergic agents. Thus, the natural products have been a constant source of new approaches for the treatment of AD, especially alkaloids. For example, galantamine (Galanthus woronowii), is a selective inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, allosteric modulator of the central nicotinic receptor, inhibits βA aggregation and promotes hippocampal neurogenesis. Berberis (Berberis mahonia) is IChE, inhibits the formation and aggregation of βA and reduces hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in some in vitro systems. Other alkaloids of different plant species showed significant cholinesterase inhibitory activity, such as the triterpenoid alkaloids isolated from Buxus hyrcana (Orthan et al., 2004), the steroidal alkaloids from Buxus papillosa (Babar et al., 2006), the indole glucoalkaloids from Chimarrhis turbinata (Cardoso et al., 2004), the monoterpene alkaloids from Hippeastrum argentinum (Ortiz et al., 2016), the indole alkaloids from Rauvolfia reflexa (Fadaeinasab et al.,