title: Biflavonoids as Potential Small Molecule Therapeutics for Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: Flavonoids are naturally occurring phytochemicals found in a variety of fruits and vegetables and offer color, flavor, aroma, nutritional and health benefits. Flavonoids have been found to play a neuroprotective role by inhibiting and/or modifying the self-assembly of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide into oligomers and fibrils, which are linked to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. The neuroprotective efficacy of flavonoids has been found to strongly depend on their structure and functional groups. Flavonoids may exist in monomeric, as well as di-, tri-, tetra- or polymeric form through C-C or C-O-C linkages. It has been shown that flavonoids containing two or more units, e.g., biflavonoids, exert greater biological activity than their respective monoflavonoids. For instance, biflavonoids have the ability to distinctly alter Aβ aggregation and more effectively reduce the toxicity of Aβ oligomers compared to the monoflavonoid moieties. Although the molecular mechanisms remain to be elucidated, flavonoids have been shown to alter the Aβ aggregation pathway to yield non-toxic, unstructured Aβ aggregates, as well as directly exerting a neuroprotective effect to cells. In this chapter, we review biflavonoid-mediated Aβ aggregation and toxicity, and highlight the beneficial roles biflavonoids can potentially play in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thapa
authors.forename: Eva Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chi
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D044946:Biflavonoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D066263:Protein Aggregation, Pathological / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D044946:Biflavonoids; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents