A review of apigenin as neuroprotective agent. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Apigenin as Neuroprotective Agent: of mice and men.
Pharmacol Res. 2017 Oct 18. Epub 2017 Oct 18. PMID: 29055745
Seyed Fazel Nabavi
Neurodegenerative diseases (NNDs) such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases are the most common age-related pathologies that affect millions of people all over the world. To date, effective therapy for NNDs is not available and current approaches to disease management include neuroprotection strategy with a hope of maintaining and enhancing the function of survising neurons. Of course, such an approach by its own will not offer a cure but is likely to delay the disease progression by ameliorating the increase of neurotoxic agents such reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the associated inflammatory cascades. In this regard, natural products including flavonods that offer neuroprotection through multiple mechanisms have gained a lot of interest in recent years. In this communication, evidences from the various animal models and human clinical trials on the therapeutic potential of one promising flavonod, apigenin, is presented. Its chemistry, mechanism of action and potential benefits in the various examples of NDs are discussed in the light of drug discovery aspects.