Abstract
Since aging-related diseases, including dementia, represent major public health threats to our society, physician-scientists must develop innovative, interdisciplinary strategies to open new avenues for development of alternative therapies. One such novel approach may lie in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Gastrodia elata Blume (G. elata, tianma) is a TCM frequently used for treatment of cerebrocardiovascular diseases (CCVDs). Recent studies of G. elata-based treatment modalities, which have investigated its pharmacologically relevant activity, potential efficacy, and safety, have employed G. elata in well-characterized, aging-related disease models, with a focus on models of aging-related dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, I examine results from previous studies of G. elata, as well as related herbal preparations and pure natural products, as prophylaxis and remedies for aging-related CCVDs and dementia. Concluding, data suggest that tianma treatment may be used as a promising complementary therapy for AD.
Highlights
Aging-related dementia, which is mediated by damage to brain cells induced by pathways, such as those underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD), cerebrocardiovascular diseases (CCVDs), and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), is causing great inquietude, anxiety, and discomposure in an aging society [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. e World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the imperative for globally coordinated research to combat dementia [8]
Connections between AD, vascular dementia (VD), diabetes mellitus, and CCVDs have been proposed based on the strong associations between cardiovascular risk factors and AD and VD, suggesting that these diseases share common characteristics [54,55,56,57]. e risk of developing aging-related AD, VD, and CCVDs appears to be increased with a wide range of conditions and lifestyle factors, including global failure of cellular energy metabolism, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, lower physical activity, and poor diet [22, 56, 58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66]
Tianma could likely prevent many CCVDs, such as headache, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and stroke, by facilitating vasodilatory effects that strengthen the arterial structure. erefore, identification of all the bioactive ingredients in tianma could help facilitate its application as an efficient therapeutic herbal medicine for treatment of CCVDs by elucidating the mechanisms by which it ameliorates these abnormal cardiovascular responses [33, 41, 54, 67, 70, 71]
Summary
Aging-related dementia, which is mediated by damage to brain cells induced by pathways, such as those underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD), cerebrocardiovascular diseases (CCVDs), and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), is causing great inquietude, anxiety, and discomposure in an aging society [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. e World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the imperative for globally coordinated research to combat dementia [8]. Its tuber has been used in TCM for centuries [26,27,28,29,30], and extracts of tianma or its active ingredients convey physiological- and health-promoting features, including antitumor, memory improving, and neuroprotective activities [30,31,32,33]. This TCM has been widely used in Asia to treat dizziness, paralysis, epilepsy [34], and hypertension [35]. [47, 48], with gastrodin and 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol among the primary active components [48,49,50,51,52,53]
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