Neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in humans and Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD) in animals, cannot be fully cured with conventional treatments.
Thus, new knowledge applying herbal therapy, stem cells, and their derivatives offers hope for future prevention and therapy as efforts toward permanent healing.
Professor Dwi Liliek Kusindarta stated this at the end of his speech on Thursday (Jun. 6), when he was inaugurated as a professor of animal neurobiology at the UGM Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FKH UGM) in the Senate Hall.
Delivering his inauguration speech titled “The Role of Neurobiology in Alzheimer’s Disease and Canine Cognitive Dysfunction: A Review of Neuroprotection through Lemon Basil (Ocimum sanctum) and Bovine Umbilical Mesenchymal Stem Cells Conditioned Medium,” he noted that much research on characterization and mechanisms still needs to be conducted.
The current focus is on quickly translating results obtained through preclinical studies of various applications into clinical trials to provide optimal outcomes.
“Future clinical approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases will greatly benefit from using herbal plants and stem cells, which can replace damaged neurons and provide neuroprotective and neurodegenerative effects,” said Professor Kusindarta.
From his research, he explained that lemon basil herbs and animal stem cells and their secretions offer significant potential for treating nerve degeneration.
Using a conditioned medium has shown promising results as an initial approach to reducing neuron inflammation. This is followed by creating an extracellular matrix that supports regeneration, proliferation, or nerve replacement mediated through the conditioned medium (secretome).
Moreover, advances in technology that combine hydrogels, biomaterial particles, nanomaterials, and bioscaffolds with herbal materials and stem cells and their derivatives have increased the efficiency of drug delivery, interaction, and accelerated regeneration.
However, these modifications present other challenges that need to be addressed. These include issues with the application of biomaterials, which still do not allow for fully vascularized tissue units, immunological effects, tissue interactions, and the possibility of rejection due to biomaterials.
“A comprehensive understanding is crucial to building smart scaffold capabilities in tissue regeneration by incorporating herbal materials, stem cells, or their derivatives to promote better neural tissue development and neurogenesis for treating AD and CCD specifically and other neurodegenerative diseases,” Professor Kusindarta explained.
He also discussed lemon basil’s neuroprotective and neurotrophic mechanisms in his speech. He explained that one of the pharmacological therapy approaches being developed is the use of O. sanctum or lemon basil as an herbal supplement for the prevention and therapy of AD and CCD.
Professor Kusindarta emphasized that lemon basil is believed to affect memory due to its active compounds, particularly flavonoids (quercetin) and phenols (eugenol).
In silico molecular docking studies have shown that flavonoids, phenols, and eugenol can interact with the active site of amyloid β through hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions.
“The interaction of these three compounds at the active site of amyloid β indicates that the compounds contained in lemon basil have the potential to be therapeutic agents for neurological diseases (AD),” he said.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Photographer: Donnie