Volume 53, Issue 4 pp. 956-987
Review

Neurotrophic Natural Products: Chemistry and Biology

Dr. Jing Xu

Dr. Jing Xu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0358 (USA) http://theodorakisgroup.ucsd.edu

Search for more papers by this author
Michelle H. Lacoske

Michelle H. Lacoske

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0358 (USA) http://theodorakisgroup.ucsd.edu

Search for more papers by this author
Prof. Dr. Emmanuel A. Theodorakis

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Emmanuel A. Theodorakis

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0358 (USA) http://theodorakisgroup.ucsd.edu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0358 (USA) http://theodorakisgroup.ucsd.eduSearch for more papers by this author
First published: 18 December 2013
Citations: 108

Graphical Abstract

Touching a nerve: Neurotrophic natural products offer a promising therapeutic approach against various neurological disorders. This Review highlights the current synthetic strategies toward these compounds, summarizes their ability to induce neuronal growth, and discusses their potential in treating neurodegenerative diseases.

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases and spinal cord injury affect approximately 50 million people worldwide, bringing the total healthcare cost to over 600 billion dollars per year. Nervous system growth factors, that is, neurotrophins, are a potential solution to these disorders, since they could promote nerve regeneration. An average of 500 publications per year attests to the significance of neurotrophins in biomedical sciences and underlines their potential for therapeutic applications. Nonetheless, the poor pharmacokinetic profile of neurotrophins severely restricts their clinical use. On the other hand, small molecules that modulate neurotrophic activity offer a promising therapeutic approach against neurological disorders. Nature has provided an impressive array of natural products that have potent neurotrophic activities. This Review highlights the current synthetic strategies toward these compounds and summarizes their ability to induce neuronal growth and rehabilitation. It is anticipated that neurotrophic natural products could be used not only as starting points in drug design but also as tools to study the next frontier in biomedical sciences: the brain activity map project.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.