Phytochemical Importance of Medicinal Plants as Potential Sources Against Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia and depression. Decreased motor control, deficit cognitive function and mood disorders have developed due to these neurodegenerative diseases in an enormous amount of people worldwide. Potential causes for these diseases include neuron dysfunction (loss of structure and function) and molecular complexity in pathogenesis resulting in prominent harm to the typical physiology of an individual. These diseases are difficult to cure but can be controlled by different therapeutic approaches. Considerable side effects have risen due to modern medicines and the nature of diseases, signifying the use of herbal medications, which have been used from primaeval times due to natural healing power and fewer side effects. These traditional medicines improve antioxidative properties, alleviating inflammation, as well as amend transcription and transduction pathways. Plants from Fabaceae and Solanaceae have contributed major natural sources to neurological therapy along with plants from Apocynaceae, Asteraceae and Euphorbiaceae. These therapeutic plants are, Withania somnifera, Bacopa monnieri, Ginkgo biloba, Mucuna pruriens, Camellia sinesis, Cassia obtusifolia, Panax giseng, Rosmarinus officinalis, Zingiber officinale, etc. Powder form or herbal formulations prepared from these plants have revealed promising advantages to treating neurodegenerative diseases globally. Different alkaloids, terpenes, saponins, phenols, flavonoids and coumarins are natural phytoceuticals, present in these medicinal plants and are responsible for neuroprotective mechanisms. This chapter briefly discussed medicinal plants and their parts involved in neuroprotection against neurodegenerative diseases, with further investigation of plant extracts and phytoceuticals.