Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration and the Neuroprotective Role of Secondary Metabolites

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) are age-related disorders and their prevalence is rising globally due to the increase in aging population. NDDs comprise a wide range of diseases that have specific etiological features affecting different regions of the brain and manifesting various types of clinical symptoms. However, their pathophysiology shares common genotype-phenotype relationships displaying pathological features like protein misfolding and aggregation of toxic proteins, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, synaptic injury, and neuronal death. Scientific scrutiny of these mechanisms can shed light on identifying the biological markers (to diagnose the NDDs type) and novel therapeutic targets (to develop a holistic approach to treat NDDs).Traditional systems of medicine and pharmacognosy studies have demonstrated that the pleiotropic efficacy of phytochemicals against NDDs. The Authors have focussed on the main pathological mechanisms of neurodegeneration, and benefits of phytochemicals as effective and safer therapies.