Investigating Blood-brain Barrier Penetration and Neurotoxicity of Natural Products for Central Nervous System Drug Development

Natural Products (NPs) are increasingly utilized worldwide for their potential therapeutic benefits, including central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Studies have shown açai berries mitigating Parkinson's disease progression through dopaminergic neuroprotection via Nrf-2 HO-1 pathways. Ashwagandha, an evergreen shrub, has shown potential as a therapeutic for neurodegenerative disorders via axonal regeneration in Aβ25-35-treated cortical neurons in vitro. In most cases, promising NPs are tested using in vitro assays or simpler systems during the early stages of drug discovery. However, a critical challenge lies in the lack of data on blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration, which is a significant determinant for the successful development of CNS drugs. Our first goal was to test our in-house NP constituent library via the Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay (PAMPA-BBB), with the aim of understanding their BBB-penetration potential. Of the constituents tested, 255 were found to have moderate to high BBB permeability. Our next goal was to understand if these compounds could exhibit CNS toxicity. Neuronal viability and neurite outgrowth assays were performed with this subset to identify compounds with neurotoxicity potential. Around 35% of compounds tested showed neurite outgrowth inhibition. The habitual and widespread consumption of NPs underscores the importance of subjecting this subset of compounds to additional testing and validation in vivo to ascertain their potential detrimental effects. Understanding BBB permeability and assessing neurotoxicity mechanisms of NPs will significantly benefit the CNS drug discovery community.