Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal motor neuron disorder that is characterized by progressive loss of the upper and lower motor neurons at the spinal or bulbar level. Oxidative stress (OS) associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and the deterioration of the electron transport chain are factors that contribute to neurodegeneration and perform a potential role in the pathogenesis of ALS. Natural antioxidant molecules have been proposed as an alternative form of treatment for the prevention of age-related neurological diseases, in which ALS is included. Researches support that regulations in cellular reduction/oxidation (redox) processes are being increasingly implicated in this disease, and antioxidant drugs are aimed at a promising pathway to treatment. Among the strategies used for obtaining new drugs, we can highlight the isolation of secondary metabolite compounds from natural sources that, along with semisynthetic derivatives, correspond to approximately 40% of the drugs found on the market. Among these compounds, we emphasize oxygenated and nitrogenous compounds, such as flavonoids, coumarins, and alkaloids, in addition to the fatty acids, that already stand out in the literature for their antioxidant properties, consisting in a part of the diets of millions of people worldwide. Therefore, this review is aimed at presenting and summarizing the main articles published within the last years, which represent the therapeutic potential of antioxidant compounds of natural origin for the treatment of ALS.
Highlights
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Charcot’s or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by affecting cortical and spinal motor neurons that control the voluntary motions of muscles [1, 2]
The results of the present study suggest that madecassoside successfully and significantly regulated the gene and protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), signal transducer and transcription activator 1 (STAT1), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), which are all proneuroinflammatory components
Torres et al [144] performed dietary supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in a murine model fASL B6SJL-Tg (SOD1 ∗ G93A), in which they observed that a diet rich in DHA significantly increases the survival of male rats by 7% and delays motor dysfunction and loss of weight associated with ALS transgene (P < 0:01)
Summary
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), known as Charcot’s or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by affecting cortical and spinal motor neurons that control the voluntary motions of muscles [1, 2]. This review is aimed at presenting and summarizing the main articles published within the last years, which represent the therapeutic potential of antioxidant compounds of natural origin for the treatment of ALS In this sense, the keywords “antioxidant activity,” “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” “natural products,” and “secondary metabolites,” among others, were included in the search into the databases “ScienceDirect,” “Pubmed,” “Periódicos Capes,” “Clinical Trials,” “Web of Science,” and “Google Acadêmico,” during the period of March 14 to April 10 2020. Oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen are the chemical elements that constitute its basic formula, so that its molecular weight varies between 100 and 900 g mol-1 This class of compounds has revealed to be one of the most promising secondary metabolites for ALS treatment due to their diverse mechanism of action, which can collaborate to prevent the disease evolution [26,27,28]
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