Tropoflavin (7,8-dihydroxyflavone)

Tropoflavin, also known as 7,8-dihydroxyflavone, is a naturally occurring flavone found in Godmania aesculifolia, Tridax procumbens, and primula tree leaves. It acts as a potent and selective small-molecule agonist of the tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB), the main signaling receptor of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor).

In animal studies, tropoflavin has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in a wide range of central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, depression, cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, cerebral ischemia, fragile X syndrome, and Rett syndrome. Furthermore, studies on rodents suggest that tropoflavin might ameliorate age-associated cognitive impairment and enhances memory consolidation and emotional learning in healthy subjects. Moreover, tropoflavin possesses powerful antioxidant activity independent of its actions on the TrkB receptor, protects against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity, 6-hydroxydopamine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity, and oxidative stress-induced genotoxicity. Tropoflavin was also found to block methamphetamine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity.