Exploitation of Marine Molecules to Manage Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases are sociosanitary challenges of today, as a result of increased average life expectancy, with Alzheimer’s disease being one of the most prevalent. This pathology is characterized by brain impairment linked to a neurodegenerative process culminating in cognitive decline and behavioral disorders. Though the etiology of this pathology is still unknown, it is usually associated with the appearance of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The most used prophylaxis relies on anticholinesterase drugs and NMDA receptor antagonists, whose main action is to relieve symptoms and not to treat or prevent the disease. Currently, the scientific community is gathering efforts to disclose new natural compounds effective against Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative pathologies. Marine natural products have been shown to be promising candidates, and some have been proven to exert a high neuroprotection effect, constituting a large reservoir of potential drugs and nutraceutical agents. The present article attempts to describe the processes of extraction and isolation of bioactive compounds derived from sponges, algae, marine bacteria, invertebrates, crustaceans, and tunicates as drug candidates against AD, with a focus on the success of pharmacological activity in the process of finding new and effective drug compounds.

Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) to De-Orphanize Marine Molecules: Finding Potential Therapeutic Agents for Neurodegenerative and Cardiovascular Diseases

“…In this work, by using different CADD techniques, we have been able to elucidate, from a set of marine molecules from benthic invertebrates, a list of potential targets related to neurodegenerative and cardiovascular pathologies, exemplifying at the same time the therapeutic potential of the marine molecules studied. In general, the therapeutic role of some marine molecules against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer or Parkinson has been recently demonstrated [173][174][175][176][177] as well as in cardiovascular diseases [178][179][180]. All these facts support the results of the study herein presented.…”

A comprehensive review on algal nutraceuticals as prospective therapeutic agent for different diseases

“…This is marked by the gradual loss of nerve cells, resulting in brain atrophy, particularly in cognition centers. It is the most prevalent cause of dementia which is a progressive mental condition that leads to impairment of critical brain processes and leads to memory loss and cognitive deficit (Silva et al 2021 ). The characteristic feature of AD is the dysregulation in the levels of beta-amyloid (Aβ), neurofibrillary tangles, and high concentration of unubiquitinated tau.…”

“…Principle therapeutic strategy against AD is the blocking of the binding of acetylcholinesterase enzyme (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase enzyme (BuChE). Both of these enzymes are responsible for the hydrolysis of Ach and BCh (Pangestuti and Kim 2011 ; Silva et al 2021 ). Seaweed being the recently discovered potent inhibitor of AChE and BuChE also improves the cholinergic deficit in patients.…”

Application of Marine Natural Products against Alzheimer’s Disease: Past, Present and Future

“…Another hypothesis is the neuroinflammation hypothesis, which is modified from the above-mentioned amyloid hypothesis. Based on this theory, the pathogenesis of AD is mainly related to a series of activities of microglia in the immune system of the central nervous system (CNS) in which that microglia continuously activate pro-inflammatory cells through the transduction of pro-inflammatory signals [ 24 ]. At this point, the microglia can’t adjust the impairment of anti-inflammatory cytokine and lipid dielectric, causing damage to the nerve degeneration and neuronal metabolites, which brings more inflammation and excessive phosphorylated tau protein increased.…”