Selected Natural and Synthetic Agents Effective against Parkinson's Disease with Diverse Mechanisms

Abstract

Similar to other neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease (PD) has been extensively investigated with respect to its neuropathological background and possible treatment options. Since the symptomatic outcomes are generally related to dopamine deficiency, the current treatment strategies towards PD mainly employ dopaminergic agonists as well as the compounds acting on dopamine metabolism. These drugs do not provide disease modifying properties; therefore alternative drug discovery studies focus on targets involved in the progressive neurodegenerative character of PD. This study has aimed to present the pathophysiology of PD concomitant to the representation of drugs and promising molecules displaying activity against the validated and non-validated targets of PD.