The prevalence of stroke is high in both developing and developed nations. It causes a heavy social and financial burden to the sufferers and their caregivers. Thrombolytic therapy is the only pharmacological treatment available for stroke. However, thrombolytic agents do not provide substantial improvement on long term motor and cognitive disabilities. Thus, there is a need to explore for new compounds that can halt or reverse the deterioration of neurons in the stroke patients' brain. Polydatin, a precursor of resveratrol, is a natural stilbene commonly found in food. This review article describes how different parameters were altered with ischemic injury and polydatin treatment, why it is important and how it could be beneficial or useful in future studies. Our review of polydatin provides convincing evidence regarding the potential of polydatin to be developed into preventive or therapeutic products for ischemic stroke. Nevertheless, additional studies are necessary in order to properly elucidate the biological mechanisms of polydatin, especially its molecular mechanisms of protection and target proteins, in cerebral ischemia.
* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.