Meghna Rynjah Anand

King’s College London, United Kingdom

Title: Nootropic Medicinal Plants: A novel approach in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

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Biography

Meghna Rynjah Anand has a special interest in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, especially dementia, given the vast unknowns associated with it. Using my education in both general biology and clinical neuroscience I hope to amalgamate bioprocesses such as hemodynamic and electrophysical responses of the brain to better understand neurodegeneration. I am currently working on an independent research paper examining the effect of cancer treatment of the onset of dementia.

The aim of my studies is to develop feasible treatment and palliative care that can improve the quality of life for these patients. Low-income groups are often more susceptible to reduced quality of life both for the patients as well as their families, due to high expenses of care homes. Thereby, I want to design a solution easily accessible by all.  

Abstract

The global burden and disability rate of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease has doubled since the 1990’s. Donepezil, memantine and carbidopa, the most common synthetic medicines used for treatment cause side effects such as nausea, dizziness, cardiac weakness and ulcers in the digestive track. A systemic review was conducted on how nootropic medicinal plants improve the quality of life for patients of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, principally in its early stages. The nootropic medicinal plants reviewed in this paper are Bacopa monnieri, Withania somnifera and Acorus calamus.  Bacopa monnieri consists of bacosides and polar oligosaccharides that stimulate cerebral blood flow and reduce the denaturing of neuronal cells bilayer. The DDMP sugar group is a reductive agent counteracting oxidative stress. Withania somnifera contain withanolides that inhibit cholinesterase enzymatic activity thus reducing the rate of acetylcholine breakdown. They also mimic naturally occurring steroids of the body that aid the degradation of ABP plaques for Alzheimer’s patients. In Parkinson’s’ patients the steroidal activity stimulates production of free radical scavenging enzymes SO2, COX and GPX in the basal and striatal region with high dopamine density. Acorus calamus contains alpha asarones that mediate the glutamate pathway in Alzheimer’s patients to prevent overactivation of NMDA. Beta asarones cause apoptosis of Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s patients. The neuroprotective, antioxidant and anticonvulsant properties of the medicinal plants promote a higher quality of life, including fewer side effects as an indicator. Future research can synthetically produce the aforementioned compounds and investigate how to further enhance them for medical purposes.