The Ayurvedic Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Anne George, K. S. Joshy, Mathew Sebastian, Oluwatobi Samuel Oluwafemi, Sabu Thomas in Holistic Approaches to Infectious Diseases, 2017
There is another category of herbal constituents that convey a broad host of medicinal properties known as alkaloids. Alkaloids are a diverse group of low molecular weight nitrogenous compounds that have been used for, and against humans for thousands of years. One thing that binds this group is the presence of nitrogen and their characteristic bitter taste. Alkaloids are potent compounds found in plants that naturally give them the ability to fight pathogens and predators alike. They can be poisonous as well as medicinal. Many of the most common medicines are derived from plants including morphine (pain-killer), caffeine (stimulant), Quinine (anti-malaria) and even nicotine. Although there is no solid definition of what as alkaloid actually is, the majority of active alkaloids used in medicine contain multiple ring structures similar to the polyphenols. This would then suggest that in addition to their specific activities that each have some extent of oxidative scavenging activity.
Chemistry and Pharmacology of Naturally Occurring Flavoalkaloids
Namrita Lall in Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds, which are present in plants and fungi and have various health benefits, especially their antioxidant properties (Pietta, 2000; Veitch and Grayer, 2011). Flavonoids are known to possess the 15-carbon arylchromane structure (Figure 21.1). Flavoalkaloids are a special kind of naturally occurring molecules which consist of an alkaloid within the flavonoid structure. The term ‘alkaloid’ collectively refers to a natural compound, which possesses a basic nitrogen atom. Within flavoalkaloids, the nitrogen is linked at position C (6) or C (8) to the flavonoid structure, which consists of two aromatic rings and an oxygen heterocycle. When compared to flavonoids, flavoalkaloids are fewer in number (Houghton, 1987 , 2000; Khadem and Marles, 2012).
Medicinal Plants of India and Their Antimicrobial Property
Jayanta Kumar Patra, Gitishree Das, Sanjeet Kumar, Hrudayanath Thatoi in Ethnopharmacology and Biodiversity of Medicinal Plants, 2019
Alkaloids are a group of small organic compounds derived from amino acids containing one or more nitrogen atom in a heterocyclic ring. These compounds are derived from amino acids such as ornithine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, histidine, aspartic acid, and anthranilic acid. They are nonvolatile, colorless, water-soluble crystalline solids and tend to have a bitter taste. Various types of alkaloids (more than 3000) have been identified. These are commonly found in families like Ranunculaceae, Solanaceae, Papaveraceae, and Amaryllidaceae and are found in different parts such as leaf, stem, bark and seed. Some examples of alkaloids are morphine, cocaine, atropine, quinine, nicotine, caffeine, atropine, ephedrine and strychnine. Alkaloids in medicinal plants reported to possess the antimicrobial property (Marimuthu et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2015). The mechanistic action of alkaloids is due to their ability to intercalate in between purine and pyrimidine thereby disrupting hydrogen bonds of DNA (Phillipson and O’Neill, 1987).
Traditional Ayurvedic and herbal remedies for Alzheimer’s disease: from bench to bedside
Published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2019
Rohit Sharma, Kamil Kuca, Eugenie Nepovimova, Atul Kabra, MM Rao, PK Prajapati
Researchers have found potential efficacy of plant-derived alkaloids in AD. Alkaloids are a class of naturally occurring organic nitrogen-containing compounds that are found primarily in botanicals [82]. They have a wide range of pharmacological applications because of their multifaceted effects. Current and potential applications of plant alkaloids for AD treatment are stipulated in Table 3. Selected potential candidate alkaloids possess several targeted action mechanisms to affect the pathways in AD pathogenesis. As most natural compounds including alkaloids have multiple targets, strategies such as combined treatments, and the development of synthetic heterodimers by linking different functional motifs with different targets [83,84] may help improve the potency of existing drugs and aid the development of new classes of drugs. FDA-approved and other effective phytocompounds or alkaloids against AD are detailed in Tables 3 [85–91] and 4 [92–106], respectively. Though several extracts have been prepared from herbs, efforts to understand their bioactivities are still underway, therefore further well-planned and comprehensive in vitro, in vivo, and safety investigations are warranted to ascertain and validate the biological roles to reach better conclusions.
Alkaloids as the natural anti-influenza virus agents: a systematic review
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2018
Mohammad-Taghi Moradi, Ali Karimi, Zahra Lorigooini
One of the most active components of the natural herbs, i.e. alkaloids, have already been fruitfully developed into chemotherapeutic medications, such as camptothecin (CPT), a well-known topoisomerase I (TopI) inhibitor (Huang et al., 2007), and vinblastine, which interacts with tubulin (Li et al., 2007). Alkaloids are the largest category of plant-based secondary metabolites. The term alkaloids generally include the basic substances that contain one or more nitrogen atoms, usually located in the heterocyclic ring (Harborne, 1998). A biosynthetic pathway-based classification is used to categorize various alkaloids (Lu et al., 2012). Alkaloids have a wide distribution in the plant kingdom and are mainly found in higher plants, such as those from families Ranunculaceae, Leguminosae, Papaveraceae, Menispermaceae, and Loganiaceae (Lu et al., 2012). Moreover, alkaloids can exert significant biological activities, namely relieving action of ephedrine for asthma, anticancer effects of vinblastine, and analgesic action of morphine (Benyhe, 1994; Li et al., 2007; Lu et al., 2012). The aim of this article was to review the published results of works carried out to evaluate the derived alkaloids from natural resources and evaluate their mechanisms of actions as promising anti-influenza virus agents.
Nutraceuticals-based therapeutic approach: recent advances to combat pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease
Published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2021
Marjan Talebi, Eleni Kakouri, Mohsen Talebi, Petros A. Tarantilis, Tahereh Farkhondeh, Selen İlgün, Ali Mohammad Pourbagher-Shahri, Saeed Samarghandian
Another class of naturally derived compounds that play a critical role in the AD treatment is alkaloids [166]. Alkaloids are secondary metabolites that contain a nitrogen atom usually presented in a ring system. Alkaloids act through different mechanisms of action. For example, galantamine, a tertiary alkaloid, and an allosteric regulator of nAchR receptor ameliorates nicotinic transmission. Thus, it promotes the release of Ach, dopamine, and glutamate. Due to its antioxidant activity, hinders Aβ accumulation and plays a vital role in neurogenesis as it stimulates M1 muscarinic and a7 nicotinic receptors [167,168]. A similar mechanism of action is attributed to Huperzine A. Interestingly, Wang et al. (2006) showed that huperzine A isolated from Huperzia serrata antagonizes the activity of tacrine and donepezil regarding bioavailability tests and long-term AchE inhibitory effect [169,170]. Huperzine A displayed antioxidant possessions and alleviated BACE1 and APP695 proteins. It is feasible to attenuate Aβ accumulation and τau protein hyperphosphorylation in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex in AD transgenic mice [171]. Also, in rat cortical neurons, Huperzine A reduced ROS production and inhibited caspase-3 [172], promoted proliferation via extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation, and stimulated production of new cells in adult mice [173].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Acid
- Organic Compound
- Oxygen
- Sulfur
- Nitrogen
- Natural Product
- Carbon
- Hydrogen
- Phosphorus
- Chlorine