Dear Colleagues,

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) are characterized by the progressive and irreversible loss of selected neuronal populations in the peripheral or central nervous system (CNS). Neuronal loss in the CNS leads to an impairment of motor, behavioral and/or cognitive function. NDs mainly include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (IR), etc. Already, many of the pathological mechanisms underlying these above NDs have been mentioned, such as genetic mutation, microRNA (miRNA) network alteration, glutamate excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondria dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, proteostasis failure, autophagy dysfunction, cerebral microvascular damages, etc. Most of the previous studies suggest that these NDs are caused by multiple pathological mechanisms or processes, although each ND has its own different clinical characteristics, neuropathological targets, and loss of selected neuronal populations. Recent reports indicated that medicinal herbs and/or natural products possess substantial pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, autophagy-inducible and ubiquitin-proteasome system-modulating activities. Accordingly, these multitargeted medicinal herbs and/or natural products are most likely to have potential advantages against these NDs. Thus, based on these above backgrounds, this Special Issue is dedicated to presenting the molecular pathological mechanisms of NDs, and the molecular mechanisms of medicinal herbs and/or natural products in the treatment of these NDs. Additionally, review articles summarizing the molecular pathological mechanisms of NDs and the anti-NDs and/or neuroprotective mechanisms of medicinal herbs and/or natural products are also a focus of this Special Issue.

Dr. Chi-Rei Wu
Prof. Dr. Dah-Yuu Lu
Guest Editors

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• Neurodegenerative disorders
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• Cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury
• Molecular pathological mechanism
• Medicinal herbs
• Natural products.