Ervas medicinais ayurvédicas no tratamento da doença de Alzheimer: uma revisão narrativa da literatura

Abstract

It is estimated that dementia will affect around 78 million people by 2030 with Alzheimer's disease (AD) being its most common form. Of unknown etiology, AD is a neurodegenerative, multifactorial, and progressive disease characterized by neuropsychiatric manifestations, such as memory loss and cognitive impairment. Presenting a limited and often ineffective pharmacological treatment, complementary treatment therapies have been researched. In this sense, Ayurveda, an ancient traditional Indian system of medicine and health care, proposes the use of medicinal plants. This literature review aims to analyse the currently available scientific findings about the use of medicinal plants recognized within Ayurveda for the treatment of AD with an emphasis on herbs Ashwagandha, Brahmi and Gotu Kola. A search was carried out in the PubMed database and from 139 resulting publications, 20 met the inclusion criteria and seven were manually included, all described here. Neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties of herbs have been highlighted demonstrating the enormous potential of these plants. However, gaps related to standardization, guidelines for its use and its mechanisms of action remain open demonstrating the need to conduct robust and rigorously standardized clinical studies to prove its efficacy and safety in the clinical management of AD.