Figure 1.

Phenolic acids neuroprotective activities. Phenolic acids can exert neuroprotection through numerous mechanisms including the ability to decrease the levels of pro-oxidants and pro-inflammatory mediators, increase the production and/or the activity of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory mediators, enhance the antioxidant machinery, rescue and/or increase the release of neurotrophic factors, prevent and/or counteract protein aggregation, increase the expression of anti-apoptotic mediators and down-regulate that of pro-apoptotic mediators, activate pro-survival signaling pathways also blocking cell death signaling pathways, and decrease the activity of reactive astrocytes and microglia.