Research Projects

Alzheimer’s disease - a major form of dementia is a multifactorial disease causing neurodegeneration. The FDA approved drugs that are developed to combat AD are predominantly single targeted and are amyloid, cholinesterase and NMDAR inhibitors. These drugs greatly aid in giving symptomatic relief to the AD patients but have side effects. Botanical preparations that are used since ancient times have least side effects and their phytocompounds like flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids show greater potency in attenuating neurodegeneration. Tau hyperphosphorylation is one of the major factors leading to brain damage. The tau hyperphosphorylation and tangle formation affects cytoskeletal integrity and cell metabolism leading to cell death. The cell damage provokes immune response in brain leading to the stimulation of inflammatory pathways. So, attenuating hyperactive kinases and related pathways and maintaining homeostatic condition by targeting inflammation in brain cells are crucial in AD management. Vitexin,- a apigenin flavone glycoside and Thymol, a monoterpene - previously are reported to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activity against amyloid beta induced toxicity in in vitro conditions. In the proposed study, the synergistic combination of these compounds will be screened for their protective property against tau phosphorylation and inflammation in induced Alzheimer’s condition.