Polyphenols, Nerve Growth Factor, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, and the Brain

The central nervous system (CNS) has a limited capacity to spontaneously regenerate following traumatic injury or disease; therefore, the availability of new, innovative strategies to recover from the alteration in brain structure and function to promote tissue and functional repair would be of great importance. At the present time, many efforts have been carried out to identify strategies or drugs able to prevent or at least attenuate brain damage. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the major bioactivities and the efficacy on the brain of polyphenols and CNS active herbal remedies in order to stimulate interest in evaluating these compounds as potential sources for structurally and functionally novel CNS active drugs. We discuss the role of polyphenols in the brain and their functional implications for the healthy and diseased brain, especially with regard to their ability to modulate neurotrophin functions.