Nurturing hope: Uncovering the potential of herbal remedies against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Background

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease, as currently available medications such as riluzole and edaravone aim to slow disease progression and manage symptoms, they are often expensive, have adverse side effects, and offer limited therapeutic outcomes. Therefore, it is crucial to explore complementary and alternative medicines in ALS treatment along with their possible mechanism(s). This paper investigates the potential benefits of herbal remedies in ALS management, focusing on their ability to alleviate symptoms, improve quality of life, and potentially delay disease progression.

Method

The review includes articles published from 1999 to 2024 and were searched using various databases including Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and Clinical trial. The search was performed using different keywords such as ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’, ‘pathogenesis’, ‘prevalence’, ‘herbal products’, ‘natural medicines’, ‘safety’, ‘efficacy’, ‘clinical trials’, ‘herbal-drug interaction’, ‘in vitro’, ‘in vivo’, phytochemicals, ‘alternative medicine’. Further studies were screening by assessing abstracts, cross references and previously published review and research articles.

Results

A number of herbal products are reported in preclinical and clinical studies indicating their efficacy against ALS. These prominent phytoconstituents exhibiting anti- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis effect are mainly present in different parts of the plant and include curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, quercetin, resveratrol, tetrahydrocannabidiol, diallyl trisulfide, withanolides, genistein, and madecassoside. The plant extract containing these phytoconstituents exert their therapeutic effect via modulating inflammatory mediators, trapping free radicals, targeting various enzymes and/or by harnessing autophagy.

Conclusion

Although, various preclinical studies have shown beneficial effects of herbs in treating this debilitating disease. Further investigation is necessary to confirm the safety and efficacy of these botanical therapies in clinics.