Natural polyphenols for the management of autism spectrum disorder: a review of efficacy and molecular mechanisms

ABSTRACT

Natural polyphenols have been found to have some protective effects against neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, which are attributed to a variety of biological properties, particularly antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory effects. Autism spectrum disorder is a complex neurological and neurodevelopmental disorder with no currently effective clinical treatment for its core symptoms. Regarding the management of autism spectrum disorder core symptoms, a number of experimental and clinical studies have been made using well-known dietary polyphenols with different effects and molecular mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to present the most effective natural polyphenols with the relevant molecular mechanisms in preclinical and clinical autism spectrum disorder studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• natural polyphenol
• neuroprotection
• in vivo
• in vitro
• human
• antioxidant
• anti-inflammatory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).