Postbiotics as Molecules Targeting Cellular Events of Aging Brain—The Role in Pathogenesis, Prophylaxis and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

Aging is the most prominent risk factor for neurodegeneration occurrence. The most common neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) diseases, are characterized by the incidence of proteinopathy, abnormal activation of glial cells, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, impaired autophagy and cellular senescence excessive for the patient’s age. Moreover, mitochondrial disfunction, epigenetic alterations and neurogenesis inhibition, together with increased blood–brain barrier permeability and gut dysbiosis, have been linked to ND pathogenesis. Since NDs still lack curative treatment, recent research has sought therapeutic options in restoring gut microbiota and supplementing probiotic bacteria-derived metabolites with beneficial action to the host—so called postbiotics. The current review focuses on literature explaining cellular mechanisms involved in ND pathogenesis and research addressing the impact that postbiotics as a whole mixture and particular metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), lactate, polyamines, polyphenols, tryptophan metabolites, exopolysaccharides and bacterial extracellular vesicles, have on the ageing-associated processes underlying ND occurrence. The review also discusses the issue of implementing postbiotics into ND prophylaxis and therapy, depicting them as compounds addressing senescence-triggered dysfunctions that are worth translating from bench to pharmaceutical market in response to “silver consumers” demands.