Ferulic Acid: A Hope for Alzheimer's Disease Therapy from Plants

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the deposition of extracellular amyloid-beta peptide (A) and intracellular neurofibrillar tangles, associated with loss of neurons in the brain and consequent learning and memory deficits. A is the major component of the senile plaques and is believed to play a central role in the development and progress of AD both in oligomer and fibril forms. Inhibition of the formation of A fibrils as well as the destabilization of preformed A in the Central Nervous System (CNS) would be an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of AD. Moreover, a large number of studies indicate that oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction may play an important role in AD and their suppression or reduction via antioxidant use could be a promising preventive or therapeutic intervention for AD patients. Many antioxidant compounds have been demonstrated to protect the brain from A neurotoxicity. Ferulic acid (FA) is an antioxidant naturally present in plant cell walls with anti-inflammatory activities and it is able to act as a free radical scavenger. Here we present the role of FA as inhibitor or disaggregating agent of amyloid structures as well as its effects on biological models.