Elucidating the promising role of traditional Chinese medicine in neuroprotection against oxidative stress encompassing Alzheimer’s disease

Medicinal plants are being used from time immemorial for their therapeutic benefits and have immense value in the therapy of neurodegenerative disorders. One of the most important neurological disorders is Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which is a major contributor to dementia and is accompanied by abundant oxidative stress in the brain tissue. A critical pathway to target the increased oxidative stress is to administer agents with antioxidant potential. Despite currently available clinical treatments to treat AD such as cholinesterase inhibitors or NMDA antagonists which address only the symptoms and cannot hamper disease progression, no efficient available clinical treatment can break the vicious cycle of oxidative stress and neurodegeneration till date. The main objective of presenting this review is that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acts as a promising candidate in breaking this vicious cycle and improves the quality of life of the debilitating patients. The active constituents of various herbs in TCM including Angelica sinensis , Radix polygalae , Polygala tenuifolia , and members of the Lamiaceae family have acquired experience of managing oxidative stress as indicated in the review for more than a thousand years now, and the preclinical and clinical evidence of their therapeutic potential has been highlighted in the review. Most importantly, Chinese herbs provide a multiple-target approach rather than a single-target approach and thus can target multiple pathways involved in AD at once. The Chinese herbs can definitely untangle the issues in the current therapy regimen of AD.