Muscarà Claudia, Gugliandolo Agnese, Mazzon Emanuela, Calì Gabriella
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino-Pulejo", Via Provinciale Palermo, Contrada Casazza, 98124 Messina, Italy.
Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, University "G. D'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy.
Antioxidants (Basel). 2025 Jul 2;14(7):818. doi: 10.3390/antiox14070818.
Neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric disorders, as well as epilepsy, affect millions of people. Due to their impact on patients' quality of life, they represent a major health issue. Natural compounds are arising as new treatments for these diseases. Particularly, glucosinolates (GLS) are secondary metabolites found in Cruciferae family plants. Their basic structure consists of a glucose unit linked to a thiohydroximate-O-sulfonate group and an aliphatic, aralkyl, or indolyl side chain, depending on their precursor amino acid. Specifically, aliphatic GLS derive from methionine, aromatic ones from phenylalanine, and indolic ones from tryptophan. Myrosinase (thioglucoside glucohydrolase) is the crucial enzyme for GLS degradation, leading to the production of isothiocyanates (ITCs). ITCs attracted considerable scientific interest for their protective effects against various diseases, thanks to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. Here, we collected the latest evidence regarding ITC effects in neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric disorders, including preclinical and clinical studies published in the last decade. These studies evidenced ITCs' neuroprotective effects, exerted mainly through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Thus, ITCs' integration, also through the diet, may represent a safe and efficacious strategy to improve health and limit the risk of neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, new large-scale trials are needed to determine their therapeutic potential, particularly for diseases with no clinical evidence.
神经退行性疾病、神经发育障碍、精神疾病以及癫痫影响着数百万人。由于它们对患者生活质量的影响，这些疾病成为了一个重大的健康问题。天然化合物正成为治疗这些疾病的新方法。特别是，硫代葡萄糖苷（GLS）是十字花科植物中发现的次生代谢产物。其基本结构由一个与硫代肟酸-O-磺酸酯基团相连的葡萄糖单元以及一个脂肪族、芳烷基或吲哚基侧链组成，具体取决于其前体氨基酸。具体而言，脂肪族硫代葡萄糖苷源自蛋氨酸，芳香族源自苯丙氨酸，吲哚族源自色氨酸。黑芥子酶（硫代葡萄糖苷葡萄糖水解酶）是硫代葡萄糖苷降解的关键酶，可导致异硫氰酸酯（ITC）的产生。由于其抗氧化、抗炎和神经保护特性，异硫氰酸酯对各种疾病的保护作用引起了相当大的科学关注。在这里，我们收集了有关异硫氰酸酯在神经退行性疾病、神经发育障碍和精神疾病中作用的最新证据，包括过去十年发表的临床前和临床研究。这些研究证明了异硫氰酸酯的神经保护作用，主要通过抗氧化和抗炎机制发挥。因此，通过饮食摄入异硫氰酸酯可能是一种安全有效的策略，有助于改善健康状况并降低患神经和精神疾病的风险。然而，需要新的大规模试验来确定它们的治疗潜力，特别是对于尚无临床证据的疾病。
