Neuroprotective Potential of Phytocompounds in the Treatment of Dementia: The State of Knowledge from the Scopolamine-Induced Animal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Dementia is a broad category of neurodegenerative pathologies characterized by a progressive decline in two or more cognitive domains, including memory, language, executive and visuospatial functions, personality, and behavior, resulting in the loss of the ability to perform instrumental and/or basic daily activities. One of the most common types of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Current approved treatments for Alzheimer’s disease are mainly limited to alleviating cognitive, behavioral, and psychological deficits. To date, four drugs belonging to two families have been approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine) and antiglutamatergic drugs (memantine). Drugs delay the progression of the disease, but they cause a number of side effects. Many scientific studies have focused on finding natural products with potential neuroprotective properties and no or minimal cytotoxicity that can support current drug therapy. The main objective of this review is to analyze and describe the neuroprotective potential of selected groups of natural substances (polyphenols, alkaloids, terpenoids) in one of the commonly performed in vivo studies, the scopolamine-induced animal model of Alzheimer’s disease. The article is a review of literature reports from the last 5 years, and the information collected indicates that the neuroprotective activity of natural compounds may prove to be a potential alternative or add-on for Alzheimer’s disease therapy.