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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by severe cognitive impairment that ultimately leads to death. Current drugs used in AD are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and antagonists to the NMDA receptors. These drugs may only slightly improve cognitive functions but have only very limited impact on the clinical course of the disease. In the past several years, based on in vitro and in vivo studies in laboratory animals, natural antioxidants, such as resveratrol, curcumin and acetyl-l-carnitine have been proposed as alternative therapeutic agents for AD. An increasing number of studies demonstrated the efficacy of primary antioxidants, such as polyphenols, or secondary antioxidants, such as acetylcarnitine, to reduce or to block neuronal death occurring in the pathophysiology of this disorder. These studies revealed that other mechanisms than the antioxidant activities could …