Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2010) 31: 649–664; doi: 10.1038/aps.2010.46

Acta Pharmacologica Sinica (2010) 31: 649–664; doi: 10.1038/aps.2010.46

Review

Retrospect and prospect of active principles from Chinese herbs in the treatment of dementia

Ying WANG¹, Lu-qi HUANG², Xi-can TANG¹, Hai-yan ZHANG^{1, *}

State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; ²Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China

Abstract

With an ageing population, dementia has become one of the world’s primary health challenges. However, existing remedies offer limited benefits with certain side effects, which has prompted researchers to seek complementary and alternative therapies. China has long been known for abundant usage of various herbs. Some of these herbal decoctions are effective in stimulating blood circulation, supplementing vital energy and resisting aging, the lack of which are believed to underlie dementia. These herbs are regarded as new and promising sources of potential anti-dementia drugs. With the rapid evolution of life science and technology, numerous active components have been identified that are highly potent and multi-targeted with low toxicity, and therefore meet the requirements for dementia therapy. This review updates the research progress of Chinese herbs in the treatment of dementia, focusing on their effective principles.

Keywords: dementia; traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); active principle; neuroprotection

The work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (G199805110, G1998051115, No 2004CB518907), National Science & Technology Major Project “Key New Drug Creation and Manufacturing Program” China (Number: 2009ZX09103-063), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (39170860, 39770846, 3001161954, 30123005, 30271494, 30572169, and 30801402). The authors are grateful to Dr Xiao-qiu XIAO, Dr Jin ZHOU, Dr Han YAN, Dr Zhi-fei WANG, Dr Xin GAO, and others for their contributions to Hup A, ZT-1 or S-52 studies.

The authors are grateful to Prof Nae J DUN (Temple University, USA) for his critical comments and English revision on the manuscript.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail hzhang@mail.shcnc.ac.cn
Received 10-01-13 Accepted 2010-03-2

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