Mediterranean Shrub Species as a Source of Biomolecules against Neurodegenerative Diseases
- PMID: 38138621
- PMCID: PMC10745362
- DOI: 10.3390/molecules28248133
Mediterranean Shrub Species as a Source of Biomolecules against Neurodegenerative Diseases
Abstract
Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with oxidative stress, due to an imbalance in the oxidation-reduction reactions at the cellular level. Various treatments are available to treat these diseases, although they often do not cure them and have many adverse effects. Therefore, it is necessary to find complementary and/or alternative drugs that replace current treatments with fewer side effects. It has been demonstrated that natural products derived from plants, specifically phenolic compounds, have a great capacity to suppress oxidative stress and neutralize free radicals thus, they may be used as alternative alternative pharmacological treatments for pathological conditions associated with an increase in oxidative stress. The plant species that dominate the Mediterranean ecosystems are characterized by having a wide variety of phenolic compound content. Therefore, these species might be important sources of neuroprotective biomolecules. To evaluate this potential, 24 typical plant species of the Mediterranean ecosystems were selected, identifying the most important compounds present in them. This set of plant species provides a total of 403 different compounds. Of these compounds, 35.7% are phenolic acids and 55.6% are flavonoids. The most relevant of these compounds are gallic, vanillic, caffeic, chlorogenic, p-coumaric, and ferulic acids, apigenin, kaempferol, myricitrin, quercetin, isoquercetin, quercetrin, rutin, catechin and epicatechin, which are widely distributed among the analyzed plant species (in over 10 species) and which have been involved in the literature in the prevention of different neurodegenerative pathologies. It is also important to mention that three of these plant species, Pistacea lentiscus, Lavandula stoechas and Thymus vulgaris, have most of the described compounds with protective properties against neurodegenerative diseases. The present work shows that the plant species that dominate the studied geographic area can provide an important source of phenolic compounds for the pharmacological and biotechnological industry to prepare extracts or isolated compounds for therapy against neurodegenerative diseases.
Keywords: Mediterranean species; natural antioxidants; neuroprotective compounds; phenols.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Figures
![Figure 1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/10745362/bin/molecules-28-08133-g001.gif)
![Figure 2](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/10745362/bin/molecules-28-08133-g002.gif)
![Figure 3](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/10745362/bin/molecules-28-08133-g003.gif)
Similar articles
-
Flavonoids and Phenolic Acids Content in Cultivation and Wild Collection of European Cranberry Bush Viburnum opulus L.Molecules. 2023 Mar 1;28(5):2285. doi: 10.3390/molecules28052285. Molecules. 2023. PMID: 36903530 Free PMC article.
-
Antioxidative and therapeutic potential of selected Australian plants: A review.J Ethnopharmacol. 2021 Mar 25;268:113580. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2020.113580. Epub 2020 Nov 13. J Ethnopharmacol. 2021. PMID: 33189842 Review.
-
Identifying Plant-Based Natural Medicine against Oxidative Stress and Neurodegenerative Disorders.Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2020 Sep 15;2020:8648742. doi: 10.1155/2020/8648742. eCollection 2020. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2020. PMID: 33014278 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Free and Bound Phenolic Compound Content and Antioxidant Activity of Different Cultivated Blue Highland Barley Varieties from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Molecules. 2018 Apr 11;23(4):879. doi: 10.3390/molecules23040879. Molecules. 2018. PMID: 29641469 Free PMC article.
-
RP-HPLC analysis of the phenolic compounds of plant extracts. investigation of their antioxidant capacity and antimicrobial activity.J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Feb 23;53(4):1190-5. doi: 10.1021/jf040083t. J Agric Food Chem. 2005. PMID: 15713039
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical