Kure Christina, Timmer Jorinde, Stough Con
Swinburne Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Front Pharmacol. 2017 Mar 10;8:117. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00117. eCollection 2017.
Advances in healthcare have considerably improved the life expectancy of the human population over the last century and this has brought about new challenges. As we live longer the capacity for cognitive aging increases. Consequently, it has been noted that decline in cognitive performance in the elderly in domains of reasoning, problem solving skills, attention, processing speed, working memory and episodic memory is a significant societal problem. Despite the enormity of this issue there are relatively few interventions for cognitive aging. This may be due to our current state of knowledge on biological factors that underpin cognitive aging. One of the biological contributors to cognitive aging is chronic neuroinflammation. This review will provide an overview of the peripheral and central mechanisms involved in chronic neuroinflammation and how neuroinflammation may be related to age-associated cognitive decline. Plant based extracts including herbal and nutritional supplements with anti-inflammatory properties will be examined in relation to their utility in treating age-related cognitive decline. Plant based extracts in particular offer interesting pharmacological properties that may be quickly utilized to prevent cognitive aging.
在过去的一个世纪里，医疗保健的进步显著提高了人类的预期寿命，但这也带来了新的挑战。随着我们寿命的延长，认知衰老的可能性增加。因此，人们注意到老年人在推理、解决问题的能力、注意力、处理速度、工作记忆和情景记忆等领域的认知能力下降是一个重大的社会问题。尽管这个问题非常严重，但针对认知衰老的干预措施相对较少。这可能是由于我们目前对认知衰老背后的生物学因素的了解程度。认知衰老的生物学因素之一是慢性神经炎症。本综述将概述慢性神经炎症所涉及的外周和中枢机制，以及神经炎症与年龄相关的认知衰退之间的关系。将研究具有抗炎特性的植物提取物，包括草药和营养补充剂，以探讨它们在治疗与年龄相关的认知衰退方面的效用。特别是植物提取物具有有趣的药理特性，可能很快被用于预防认知衰老。
