PHYTOCHEMICAL PROFILE AND NEUROPROTECTIVE POTENTIAL OF ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS L. FROM NILGIRIS IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE MANAGEMENT

The current review discusses the possibility of using Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) from the Nilgiris district as a plant that can be used as biomarkers for the quantification and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Specific geographic and climatic conditions, prevalent in the Nilgiris, make such cultivations unique and replete with high levels of Rosmarinus acid, carnosic acid, luteolin, and 1,8-cineole. These compounds exhibit multimodal neuroprotective effects against AD pathology through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions, amyloid-β and tau pathology modification, as well as enhancement of cholinergic function. The preclinical studies concerning the treatment of AD were quite important to its consequences on neuroprotection, cognitive improvement, inhibition of amyloid-β aggregation, and reduction of tau hyperphosphorylation. This paper also highlights the possibility that such compounds could be used as biomarkers to quantify AD because they can be measured in biological fluids and can have associations related to mechanisms behind AD. However, challenges ahead are standardization of rosemary extracts and improvement in their bioavailability along with penetration across the blood-brain barrier and all this in well-designed clinical trials. Future Research Future research would include the development of standardized cultivation and processing protocols to improve the bioavailability of the extract; large-scale clinical trials on AD patients; and combination of the therapy with existing AD drugs, not forgetting personalized approaches to medicine.