Title:Neuroprotective Strategies for Stroke by Natural Products: Advances and
Perspectives
Volume: 21
Issue: 11
Author(s): Aifen Liu, Jingyan Hu, Tzu-Shao Yeh, Chengniu Wang, Jilong Tang, Xiaohong Huang, Bin Chen, Liexiang Huangfu, Weili Yu and Lei Zhang*
Affiliation:
- Institute of Interdisciplinary Integrative Medicine Research, School of Medicine,
Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China
- Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, School of Pharmacy, Naval Medical
University, Shanghai 200433, China
Keywords:
Ischemic stroke, natural products, neuroprotection, antioxidation, mitochondrial dysfunction, ER stress, apoptosis, inflammation.
Abstract: Cerebral ischemic stroke is a disease with high prevalence and incidence. Its management
focuses on rapid reperfusion with intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular thrombectomy. Both
therapeutic strategies reduce disability, but the therapy time window is short, and the risk of bleeding
is high. Natural products (NPs) have played a key role in drug discovery, especially for cancer and infectious
diseases. However, they have made little progress in clinical translation and pose challenges
to the treatment of stroke. Recently, with the investigation of precise mechanisms in cerebral ischemic
stroke and the technological development of NP-based drug discovery, NPs are addressing these challenges
and opening up new opportunities in cerebral stroke. Thus, in this review, we first summarize
the structure and function of diverse NPs, including flavonoids, phenols, terpenes, lactones, quinones,
alkaloids, and glycosides. Then we propose the comprehensive neuroprotective mechanism of NPs in
cerebral ischemic stroke, which involves complex cascade processes of oxidative stress, mitochondrial
damage, apoptosis or ferroptosis-related cell death, inflammatory response, and disruption of the
blood-brain barrier (BBB). Overall, we stress the neuroprotective effect of NPs and their mechanism
on cerebral ischemic stroke for a better understanding of the advances and perspective in NPs application
that may provide a rationale for the development of innovative therapeutic regimens in ischemic
stroke.