Géraldine Le Goff
National Center for Scientific Research CNRS, Institute for Chemistry of Natural Products ICSN, France
Title: New compounds from Withania Somnifera with neuroprotective activities. Isolation, structure elucidation bioassays and scale-up production
Biography
Biography: Géraldine Le Goff
Abstract
The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases are increasing worldwide due to extensions in lifespan with more than 2.1 billion
people aged 60 and more in 2030. The most representative diseases are Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD),
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntington’s disease (HD). Available treatments are limited in number and efficacy and
extensive efforts are dedicated to alternative herbal therapy. Among various promising plants, Withania somnifera roots and leaves
extracts demonstrated large spectrum activities on neural dysfunction (common name Ashwagandha). Based on our previous
encouraging results, our ongoing efforts are dedicated to identify new compounds from Ashwagandha and demonstrate their
mechanism of action and their relevance in neuroprotection. Besides the known major constituents, withanolides, withanone and
withaferin, now steroidal components were identified and their biological activity investigated.