Medicinal plants and their derivatives with amyloid beta inhibitory activity as potential targets for drug discovery

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects the elderly population. Its management has been a long-standing challenge and area of interest. One of the pathological features of the disease is the formation of senile plaques which are made up of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides. Aβ causes neurodegeneration by a complex interaction of processes that involves increasing the extracellular concentration of glutamate, intracellular Ca2+ and apoptosis. The Aβ peptide is therefore a prime target for developing therapies for AD, and inhibition of the peptide has been explored as a possible approach toward treatment of AD. A potential source of Aβ inhibitors is provided by the abundance of medicinal plants in nature. Several extracts from medicinal plants and isolated compounds have been tested in animal and cellular models of AD with promising results. The present work constitutes a review of the literature on medicinal plants and isolated compounds which have been tested for their inhibitory activity against Aβ. The plant species and compounds listed are potential inhibitors of Aβ and may aid researchers in their further studies on the development of treatments for AD from natural products.