Therapeutic considerations of bioactive compounds in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease: Dissecting the molecular pathways

Leading neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are characterized by the impairment of memory and motor functions, respectively. Despite several breakthroughs, there exists a lack of disease-modifying treatment strategies for these diseases, as the available drugs provide symptomatic relief and bring along side effects. Bioactive compounds are reported to bear neuroprotective properties with minimal toxicity, however, a detailed elucidation of their modes of neuroprotection is lacking. The review elucidates the neuroprotective mechanism(s) of some of the major phyto-compounds in pre-clinical and clinical studies of AD and PD to understand their potential in combating these diseases. Curcumin, eugenol, resveratrol, baicalein, sesamol and so on have proved efficient in countering the pathological hallmarks of AD and PD. Curcumin, resveratrol, caffeine and so on have reached the clinical phases of these diseases, while aromadendrin, delphinidin, cyanidin and xanthohumol are yet to be extensively explored in pre-clinical phases. The review highlights the need for extensive investigation of these compounds in the clinical stages of these diseases so as to utilize their disease-modifying abilities in the real field of treatment. Moreover, poor pharmacokinetic properties of natural compounds are constraints to their therapeutic yields and this review suggests a plausible contribution of nanotechnology in overcoming these limitations.