•Natural products (NPs) are defined as small molecules produced by living systems such as marine organisms, plants or microbes, which are not essential for their survival.
•It is estimated that NPs represent approximately 60% of the drugs on the market.
•NPs exhibit a large spectrum of biological activities including neuroprotective, cardio protective, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer and antimalarial activities for instance.
•NPs can inhibit the inflammatory process after CNS injuries, protect cells from excessive reactive oxygen species and enhance neural regeneration.
•Although on their own NPs may not be capable of inducing regeneration in the nervous tissue, they are being explored for use as supportive and stimulating agents for cell therapies.
•NPs have shown promise with regards to significantly shortening the cell preparation time in the labs, improving the survivability of transplanted cells and hastening their reparative actions once transplanted.