The Positive Role and Mechanism of Herbal Medicine in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease, manifested by the progressive functional impairment of the midbrain nigral dopaminergic neurons. Due to the unclear underlying pathogenesis, disease-modifying drugs for PD remain elusive. In Asia, such as in China and India, herbal medicines have been used in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease for thousands of years, which recently attracted considerable attention because of the development of curative drugs for PD. In this review, we first summarized the pathogenic factors of PD including protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, ion accumulation, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress, and the related recent advances. Secondly, we summarized 32 Chinese herbal medicines (belonging to 24 genera, such as Acanthopanax, Alpinia, and Astragalus), 22 Chinese traditional herbal formulations, and 3 Indian herbal medicines, of which the ethanol/water extraction or main bioactive compounds have been extensively investigated on PD models both in vitro and in vivo. We elaborately provided pictures of the representative herbs and the structural formula of the bioactive components (such as leutheroside B and astragaloside IV) of the herbal medicines. Also, we specified the potential targets of the bioactive compounds or extractions of herbs in view of the signaling pathways such as PI3K, NF-κB, and AMPK which are implicated in oxidative and inflammatory stress in neurons. We consider that this knowledge of herbal medicines or their bioactive components can be favorable for the development of disease-modifying drugs for PD.

Uncovering the pharmacology of Ginkgo biloba folium in the cell-type-specific targets of Parkinson’s disease

“…Herbal medicines, including extracts from Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE), have gradually come to attention as novel therapies for PD. Herbal medicines generally share the advantages of multilevel functions with fewer adverse effects ( Yin et al, 2021 ). Among the most frequently applied herbal medicines, GBE has been used in clinical therapies since the early 1970s ( Saponaro et al, 1971 ; Bartolo, 1973 ).…”

Current Treatments and New, Tentative Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease

“…In the case of PD, some bioactive compounds have also been identified that could have a positive impact on the course of this disease. Thus, there is evidence demonstrating the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and therefore neuroprotective role of different herbs present in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine [ 171 ]. These effects are extensible to other types of molecules, such as the phenolic compounds present in many nutritional products (e.g., secoiridoids, phenolic alcohols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and lignans).…”

Phytotherapeutic alternatives for neurodegenerative dementias: Scientific review, discussion and therapeutic proposal

“…Some in vivo and in vitro studies have proved their ability to increase the mRNA expression of stress‐responsive genes and reduce the expression of inflammatory mediators. (De Oliveria et al, 2009; Martins et al, 2016; Rahman et al, 2021; Yin et al, 2021).…”