Editorial: Plant-derived natural products: towards novel interventions for neurodegenerative diseases

ALZA, NATALIA P.; SALVADOR, GABRIELA A.; GRAY, NORA E.; KAUR, GINPREET

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Frontiers Media SA

Año: 2024 vol. 18

Neurodegenerative diseases (ND) comprise heterogeneous disorders characterized bythe progressive loss of fundamental abilities, such as thinking, moving, and speaking, thusstruggling patients’ quality of life. Whereas, clinical phenotypes diverge with behavioraland cognitive changes within different types of ND, there are triggering factors involvedin neuronal dysfunction and death in specific brain regions that are common acrossND, such as the accumulation of misfolded proteins, the increase in oxidative stresswith mitochondrial dysfunction, transition metal accumulation, and neuroinflammation.Treatments for ND remain limited and there are no known cures or disease-modifyingtherapies for the majority of conditions. Since ancient times, people have used plants asfood and medicine, and great advances have been made for understanding therapeuticproperties of natural products. Both medicinal plants as well as nutraceuticals representpromising alternatives for the treatment and management of ND. This Research Topicoutlines how medicinal plants and nutraceuticals, as well as their derived natural products,can improve brain health and function using several in vivo and in vitro models thatrecapitulate ND features.