Inflammation and Alzheimer's Disease: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications by Natural Products

Mediators Inflamm. 2021 Jul 31:2021:9982954. doi: 10.1155/2021/9982954. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with no clear causative event making the disease difficult to diagnose and treat. The pathological hallmarks of AD include amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and widespread neuronal loss. Amyloid-beta has been extensively studied and targeted to develop an effective disease-modifying therapy, but the success rate in clinical practice is minimal. Recently, neuroinflammation has been focused on as the event in AD progression to be targeted for therapies. Various mechanistic pathways including cytokines and chemokines, complement system, oxidative stress, and cyclooxygenase pathways are linked to neuroinflammation in the AD brain. Many cells including microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes work together to protect the brain from injury. This review is focused to better understand the AD inflammatory and immunoregulatory processes to develop novel anti-inflammatory drugs to slow down the progression of AD.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy
  • Alzheimer Disease / physiopathology*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / therapeutic use
  • Astrocytes / metabolism
  • Biological Products / pharmacology*
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Cytokines / metabolism
  • Disease Progression
  • Humans
  • Inflammasomes
  • Inflammation / drug therapy
  • Inflammation / physiopathology*
  • MAP Kinase Signaling System
  • Mice
  • Microglia / metabolism
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • Neuroinflammatory Diseases
  • Oligodendroglia / metabolism
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Plaque, Amyloid / drug therapy

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents
  • Biological Products
  • Cytokines
  • Inflammasomes
  • NF-kappa B