1. Investigación

The incidence and prevalence of age-related neurodegenerative dementias have been increasing. There is no curative therapy and conventional drug treatment can cause problems for patients. Medicinal plants traditionally used for problems associated with ageing are emerging as a therapeutic resource. The main aim is to give a proposal for use and future research based on scientific knowledge and tradition. A literature search was conducted in several searchable databases. The keywords used were related to neurodegenerative dementias, ageing and medicinal plants. Boolean operators and filters were used to focus the search. As a result, there is current clinical and preclinical scientific information on 49 species used in traditional medicine for ageing-related problems, including neurodegenerative dementias. There are preclinical and clinical scientific evidences on their properties against protein aggregates in the central nervous system and their effects on neuroinflammation, apoptosis dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, gabaergic, glutamatergic and dopaminergic systems alterations, monoamine oxidase alterations, serotonin depletion and oestrogenic protection. In conclusion, the potential therapeutic effect of the different medicinal plants depends on the type of neurodegenerative dementia and its stage of development, but more clinical and preclinical research is needed to find better, safer and more effective treatments.

The retina may suffer neurodegenerative damages, as other tissues of the central nervous system do, and serious eye diseases may develop. One of them is age-related macular degeneration, which causes progressive loss of vision due to retina degeneration. Treatment of age-related macular degeneration focuses on antioxidant agents and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor compounds, among others, that prevent/ diminish oxidative stress and reduce neovascularisation respectively. The phytochemicals, medicinal plants and/or plant-diet supplements might be a useful adjunct in prevention or treatment of age-related macular degeneration owing to their antioxidant and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor properties. This review article presents the most investigated plants and natural products in relation to age-related macular degeneration, such as saffron, ginkgo, bilberry and blueberry, curcuma or turmeric, carotenoids, polyphenols, and vitamins C and E. This study provides up-to-date information on the effects, treatments, safety and efficiency of these phytotherapy products.