Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that currently has reached epidemic proportions among elderly populations around the world. In China, available traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) that organically combine functional foods with medicinal values are named “Medicine Food Homology (MFH)”. In this review, we focused on MFH varieties for their traditional functional features, substance bases, clinical uses, and mechanisms of action (MOAs) for AD prevention and treatment. We consider the antiAD active constituents from MFH species, their effects on in vitro/in vivo AD models, and their drug targets and signal pathways by summing up the literature via a systematic electronic search (SciFinder, PubMed, and Web of Science). In this paper, several MFH plant sources are discussed in detail from in vitro/in vivo models and methods, to MOAs. We found that most of the MFH varieties exert neuroprotective effects and ameliorate cognitive impairments by inhibiting neuropathological signs (Aβ-induced toxicity, amyloid precursor protein, and phosphorylated Tau immunoreactivity), including anti-inflammation, antioxidative stress, antiautophagy, and antiapoptosis, etc. Indeed, some MFH substances and their related phytochemicals have a broad spectrum of activities, so they are superior to simple single-target drugs in treating chronic diseases. This review can provide significant guidance for people’s healthy lifestyles and drug development for AD prevention and treatment.
Highlights
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a specific onset and process of cognitive and functional decline with particular neurological characteristics, especially in people over 65 years of age with high morbidity and mortality [1,2]
amyloid -β (Aβ) by enhancing is a metabolite of panaxadiol generated by the metabolic actions of intestinal flora in autophagy via thedemonstrated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling in primary astrocytes humans
Decursinol exerted a neuroprotective effect against Aβ25–35-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells by suppressing the mitochondrial pathway of cellular apoptosis [85]
Summary
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a specific onset and process of cognitive and functional decline with particular neurological characteristics, especially in people over 65 years of age with high morbidity and mortality [1,2]. With the improvement of public health awareness, people have paid increasing attention to the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases through diet, such as a “low-, fermentable oligo-, and di-, monosaccharides and polyols” diet, Mediterranean diet, a low-lactose diet, and medicinal food herb diet [8,9,10,11]. In China, many traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are functional foods and dietary supplements, such as Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., Crocus sativus L., and Angelica acutiloba (Siebold & Zucc.) Kitag. China released specific provisions on MFH items, which considered 109 TCMs as functional foods for alleviating or curing various chronic diseases through the diet as of 2019 [8]. The main MFH items that will be introduced are those, which are often used, such as “Monarch medicine” and clinical evidence, including Angelica acutiloba (Siebold & Zucc.) Kitag., Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., and Poriacocos (Schw.) Wolf.
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