European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ROLE OF INDIGENOUS HERBS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE-A REVIEW

*J. Nisha and N. Anbu

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which results in progressive impairment of cognitive functional behaviour. The present day lifestyle and social factors play an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease leading to the frustrating features of dementia and memory loss. Dementia is one of the chronic disorders that affect the intellectual and behaviour traits of a person. Apart from dementia, the agitation aggressiveness and depression creates an enormous burden to the affected individual as well as to their intimates and costs a lot of disbursement for the effective management of this disorder. The ancient Siddha system of medicine has been used for neurogenerative disorder since centuries. Though some of these herbs namely Curcuma longa, Withania somnifera, Centella asiatica, Bacopa monnieri, Phyllanthus emblica, Zingiber officinale and Melissa officinalis have been claimed as Nervine tonics in Siddha materia medica, the scientific data are still in want. This preliminary effort is to explore the scientific reasons behind the traditional claims of these herbs for their neuroprotective and rejuvenating action.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Memory loss, Dementia, Nervine tonics, Neuroprotective herbs, Siddha medicinal herbs.