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Natural Product Compounds from Plants in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published in Namrita Lall, Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Priya Darshani, Md TanjimAlam, Prem P. Tripathi, V.S. Pragadheesh
Huperzine A is a lycopodium alkaloid derived from the Chinese herb Huperzia serrata (Thnub.) Trevis. (Liu et al., 1986). H. serrata, belonging to the Lycopodiaceae family, has been used for centuries in the Chinese system of medicine for the treatment of fever, blood disorders, inflammation and schizophrenia. In 1986, a Chinese scientist discovered Huperzine A as a competitive potent reversible AChE inhibitor (Wang et al., 1986). According to a Cochrane systematic review published in 2008, which included six trials conducted on 454 patients of AD, the study showed that huperzine A seemed to have a beneficial effect on cognitive functions and clinical status (Li et al., 2008). A similar study published in 2013 involving 20 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on 1,823 participants confirmed the beneficial effect of huperzine A on improving cognitive functions, during the clinical assessment in patients having AD (Yang et al., 2013). In China, huperzine A is clinically approved as a symptomatic agent for the treatment of AD, whereas in the United States, it is available as a dietary supplement for dementia and mental deficiency (Zangara, 2003).
Antioxidant Phytochemicals and Alzheimer’s Disease
Published in Atanu Bhattacharjee, Akula Ramakrishna, Magisetty Obulesu, Phytomedicine and Alzheimer’s Disease, 2020
Saikat Sen, Raja Chakraborty, Atanu Bhattacharjee
Huperzine A, a major constituent of the toothed clubmoss Huperzia serrata, exhibited strong AChE inhibitory activity. Huperzine A is also found to decrease Aβ production and to preserve cells from Aβ-induced damage. Clinical use of huperzine A to recover cognition and memory in patients with AD/dementia is recognized in China. It is also available in US as a memory- enhancing supplement (Damar et al., 2017). A number of clinical trials were conducted to test the effectiveness of huperzine A in treatment of patients with AD, where it was found to be effective and to improve cognitive ability, daily living activity, and global clinical assessment (Yang et al., 2013). Huperzine A possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and demonstrated. amelioration of cognitive dysfunction and neuroinflammation through its antioxidant activity and inhibition of the NLRP3/caspase-1 inflammasome pathway (Mohseni-Moghaddam et al., 2019).
Extraordinary dreams
Published in Josie Malinowski, The Psychology of Dreaming, 2020
The evidence for galantamine is strong, and it is easily available to purchase in some countries, such as the USA. However, in other countries it is a restricted substance and can only be obtained with a prescription. There are other options for psychoactive substances that anecdotally are said to enhance dreaming. Huperzine A, an alkaloid derived from the toothed clubmoss plant, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine, acts on the same neural pathways as galantamine. It may produce similar effects, is touted on many lucid dreaming websites as a rival to galantamine, and is readily available to buy. Calea ternifolia, also known as bitter-grass, is a plant native to Mexico and Central America used to encourage divinatory dreams. There’s also mugwort, which is easy to buy online, and you can even pick it yourself: it tends to grow by water and in wastelands and is easily recognisable by its silvery underside and the smell it gives off if you rub it. Mugwort has been used to promote healing dreams by the Chumash people in North America for centuries. There are no controlled experiments with these substances yet, but we may be encouraged by their long history of usage and anecdotal evidence since this was the case for galantamine. (All of these substance possibilities – and any others you may come across – come with an obvious warning to tread carefully, particularly if you have allergies, health conditions, or are pregnant.)
The scoop on brain health dietary supplement products containing huperzine A
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2020
Cindy Crawford, Yan-Hong Wang, Bharathi Avula, Ji-Yeong Bae, Ikhlas A. Khan, Patricia A. Deuster
Huperzine A is an ingredient commonly found in dietary supplements purported to aid in cognitive function, mental focus, alertness and attention, and boost memory. Researched mostly in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, studies have reported beneficial effects on cognitive function. However, systematic reviews assessing the quality of these studies caution interpretation of results due to poor methodological quality of the trials [9,10,17]. In addition, as of yet, the long-term effects of huperzine A are not understood. Although no official evidence-based recommendations on the use of huperzine A are available, the Alzheimer's Association recommends not taking huperzine A, especially if you are taking a prescribed cholinesterase inhibitor, such as donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon) or galantamine (Razadyne) [18,19]. From the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, Class III evidence showed huperzine A had no demonstrable cognitive effect for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease [20].
Dissolving microneedles for transdermal delivery of huperzine A for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
Published in Drug Delivery, 2020
Qinying Yan, Weiwei Wang, Jiaqi Weng, Zhenghan Zhang, Lina Yin, Qingliang Yang, Fangyuan Guo, Xingang Wang, Fan Chen, Gensheng Yang
Numerous drugs have been designed and developed in the past several decades, including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) (Galimberti & Scarpini, 2016) and cerebral blood flow and brain metabolism improver (Wu & Wen, 2016). Huperzine A (Hup A), from a Chinese herb, Huperzia serrata, is an effective AChEI (Ferreira et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2016), and has been proved to significantly improve the memory of elderly AD patients (Wang et al., 2006), as well as to enhance the memory and academic performance of young students (Zhang et al., 2002). Currently, commercially available pharmaceutical forms of Hup A include oral dosages such as tablets (Xie et al., 2013; Peng et al., 2019), and capsules (Laicher & Fuchs, 1998) and injections, specifically intramuscular (IM) injection (Zhu et al., 1999). Due to its narrow therapeutic range and rapid metabolism (t1/2 α=9.8 min, t1/2 β=247.5 min), Hup A is required to be administered frequently, which not only causes undesirable fluctuation in plasma concentration and probably leads to gastrointestinal side effects such as anorexia, but also brings bad inconvenience in its clinical use (Wang et al., 2007). On the other hand, the IM injection has quite a few side effects, for instance, pain, inconvenience, short curative effect, vascular injury, muscle contracture, nerve damage, and injections site adverse reactions.
Current and promising therapeutic options for Dravet syndrome
Published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2022
Antonella Riva, Gianluca D’Onofrio, Elisabetta Amadori, Domenico Tripodi, Ganna Balagura, Valentina Iurilli, Maria Stella Vari, Alberto Verrotti, Pasquale Striano
Huperzine A is a compound extracted from club moss Huperzia serrata. It has cholinergic activity, being a natural inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Because of its properties, it was traditionally used in China to treat cognitive disorders [60]. In a mouse model with a Scn1a mutation, administration of Huperzine A was shown to provide protection against experimentally induced seizures [76]. The proposed anti-epileptic mechanism is that a synaptic inhibition of AChE leads to an increase in GABAergic transmission [62].