Affiliations: [a] Department of Microbiology, Women University Mardan, Pakistan
| [b] Department of Botany, Islamia College Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
| [c] Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
| [d] Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
| [e] Professor Xu Jiaping Molecular Biology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, PR China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Shah Khalid, Department of Botany, Islamia College Peshawar, 25120, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. E-mail: scisp2@aliyun.com.
Abstract: Curcumin is widely used in spices in Asia. It has been widely explored for various diseases as therapeutic agent. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with dementia and cognitive disabilities. With the progression of disease, various changes appear in the brain cells that greatly affect the daily routine of the patient including sleep-wake disturbances. In the last few decades, extensive research has been carried out on this disease suggesting the development of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for its treatment. Since long, turmeric has been used in Asian countries as a home remedy for treating various ailments. Curcumin is an active ingredient isolated from the turmeric plant and is composed of curcuminoids. Because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective properties, curcumin can be safely administered to stop the progression of dementia and can be used for the development of such drugs that can reverse the neurotic damage caused by AD. This review article provides a comprehensive overview on the research carried out for AD using curcumin as active model drug.
