Chinese medicine offers new Parkinson's treatments

[imark3000]

"A hooked herb, root extract and a dash of bark – it may sound like a witches' brew, but these compounds could provide treatments for diseases that have so far foiled western doctors, such as Parkinson's and irritable bowel syndrome.

For over 2000 years Chinese doctors have treated "the shakes" – now known as Parkinson's disease – with gou teng, a herb with hook-like branches.
"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...reatments.html

[lurkingforacure]

Originally Posted by imark3000

"A hooked herb, root extract and a dash of bark – it may sound like a witches' brew, but these compounds could provide treatments for diseases that have so far foiled western doctors, such as Parkinson's and irritable bowel syndrome.

For over 2000 years Chinese doctors have treated "the shakes" – now known as Parkinson's disease – with gou teng, a herb with hook-like branches.
"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...reatments.html

It looks like this news is a year old? What since then has been done? Here's the old NT post, last year:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?p=781158

[imark3000]

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

It looks like this news is a year old? What since then has been done? Here's the old NT post, last year:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?p=781158

lurkingforacure,
You are absolutely right ! This is a repeat.
My brother in Auckland told me that the father of his friend who was in a very poor state suffering from PD for over 15 years had a dramatic improvement in few months after being treated by a traditional Chinese doctor using herbs. My brother told me that he personally witnessed this incredible improvement.
Although, I am usually skeptical of such stories, I was prompted to investigate Chinese traditional medicine. While searching I found the article interesting. I completely forgot that I had read it before on this forum and thanked Johnt for posting it !.
I think we have in Calgary several clinics who offer Chinese traditional medicine and acupuncture and I intend to visit one of them tho they are not covered by health insurance.
Imad

[shetawk]

Originally Posted by imark3000

"A hooked herb, root extract and a dash of bark – it may sound like a witches' brew, but these compounds could provide treatments for diseases that have so far foiled western doctors, such as Parkinson's and irritable bowel syndrome.

For over 2000 years Chinese doctors have treated "the shakes" – now known as Parkinson's disease – with gou teng, a herb with hook-like branches.
"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...reatments.html

http://www.nwpf.org/News.aspx?Item=4103


Acupuncture for Parkinson’s Disease - New Research

Health cmi.com - New research concludes that acupuncture may be an effective treatment modality for the improvement of symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease patients. Using fMRI imaging, researchers measured the specific effects of needling acupuncture point GB34 (Yanglingquan) on areas of the brain related to Parkinson’s Disease. The researchers discovered that acupuncture activated brain centers that suffer excess deactivation in Parkinson’s Disease patients. Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative brain disorder. Parkinson’s patients have lower neural responses in brain regions that acupuncture can access and activate. As a result, the researchers conclude that acupuncture at GB34 may improve the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s.

Two groups were compared using functional MRI technology. Group 1 were healthy subjects and group 2 consisted of Parkinson’s patients. The researchers discovered that acupuncture increases neural responses in brain regions associated with Parkinson’s Disease: substantia nigra, caudate, thalamus, putamen. These brain regions are pathologically impaired in Parkinson’s Disease patients but are activated by stimulation of acupuncture point GB34.

The researchers initiated this study citing prior investigations concluding that acupuncture is beneficial to Parkinson’s Disease patients. The researchers note that there is a need for more randomized controlled trials on the subject and conclude that “this study shows that acupuncture may be helpful in the treatment of symptoms involving PD (Parkinson’s Disease).”

Reference:
Yeo, S., Lim, S., Choe, I.-H., Choi, Y.-G., Chung, K.-C., Jahng, G.-H. and Kim, S.-H. (2012), Acupuncture Stimulation on GB34 Activates Neural Responses Associated with Parkinson's Disease. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, 18: 781–790. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-5949.2012.00363.x. Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.


Lynn

[pwpboy]

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

It looks like this news is a year old? What since then has been done? Here's the old NT post, last year:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?p=781158

It is also discussed in more detail in this thread I started:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread176552.html

If I am right, they patented the agent responsible for the curative effect and if everything goes well, it will be on the market in 2013. At least, that is what was said in some article. But for some reason, I don't believe it. I don't believe we will ever see a cure for PD. I only believe a cure will exist but it will never get into the market.

[jeanb]

I found this from an earlier post about Chinese herbs that help PD. In an "Edison Investmnent Research paper. I've seen Cogane listed as: smilagenin/PYM50028. The red bold text is my emphasis.

Jean

Originally Posted by wxxu

Besides Pueraria (葛根) you just wrote, there are some others mentioned in the book "Towards New Therapies for Parkinson's Disease", PP. 193 -

Scutellaria (黄芩) Scutellaria flavones isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis root exhibit strong neuroprotective effects on the brain and are not toxic in the broad range of tested doses. Their neuroprotective potential has been shown in both oxidative stress-induced and amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein-induced neuronal death models. Baicalein, the main flavone present in Scutellaria baicalensis root, strongly inhibited aggregation of neuronal amyloidogenic proteins in vitro and induces dissolution of amyloid deposits. It exerts strong antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities and also exhibits anti-convulsive, anxiolytic, and mild sedative actions. Importantly, baicalein, and also another flavone: oroxylin A, markedly enhanced cognitive and mnestic functions in animal models of aging brains and neurodegeneration. In the preliminary study, wogonin, another flavone from Scutellaria baicalensis root, has been shown to stimulate brain tissue regeneration, inducing differentiation of neuronal precursor cells. This concise review provides the main examples of neuroprotective activities of the flavones and reveals their potential in prevention and therapyof neurodegenerative diseases.

Rhizoma Anemarrhenae（知母 ）and Radix Astragali （黄芪）- elevates striatal GDNF levels and attenuates the loss of dopaminergic neurons (Visanji et al., 2008). These two are very popular and widely available in China.
Smilagenin is a compound extracted from Rhizoma anemarrhenae and Radix asparagi, medicinal herbs frequently used in the traditional Chinese medicine. A recent work shows that smilagenin, added prior to MPP+, protects cultured mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons against MPP+-induced toxicity. GDNF mRNA levels, but not those of GFRα1 or Ret, are markedly elevated in the presence of smilagenin. Moreover, the neuroprotective effect is partially lost in the presence of GDNF and/or GFRα1 antibodies (Y. Zhang et al., 2008). Oral administration of smilagenin to MPTP-lesioned mice elevates striatal GDNF levels and attenuates the loss of dopaminergic neurons (Visanji et al., 2008). Since smilagenin can be taken orally, readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, stimulates GDNF expression, and has neuroprotective effects in the MPTP mouse model of PD, hopefully it is a good candidate for the treatment of PD.

Catalpol (梓醇) extracted from Radix (fresh) Rehmannia glutinosa(生地黄) a traditional Chinese medicine herb frequently used in the therapy of dementia, induces GDNF gene expression in C6 cells and in primary cortical astrocytes (H. Yu et al., 2006). The stimulation of GDNF gene expression by Rehmannia glutinosa in C6 cells can be independently up-regulated through PKC and ERK1/2 pathways (H. Yu et al., 2006). Recently, the protective effect of catalpol, an active component extracted and purified from Rehmannia glutinosa was investigated in a chronic MPTP mouse model and in MPP+-treated
mesencephalic neurons. The oral administration of catalpol for 8 weeks dose-dependently improves locomotor ability, significantly elevates striatal dopamine levels and the number of TH-positive neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, and the striatal DAT density. Interestingly, catalpol treatment also increases GDNF striatal levels, and both the number of
dopaminergic neurons and DAT density are positively correlated with GDNF levels (G. Xu et al., 2010). Moreover, catalpol protects cultured mesencephalic neurons against MPP+toxicity and up-regulates GDNF mRNA levels in neurons intoxicated with MPP+, but not in control cultures. Importantly, the protective effect of catalpol against dopaminergic
degeneration is abolished by the presence of the GDNF receptor tyrosine kinase Ret inhibitor 4-amino-5-(4-methyphenyl)-7-(t-butyl)-pyrazolo-[3,4-d]pyrimidine (G. Xu et al., 2010). Catalpol has antioxidant (Bi et al., 2008; Tian et al., 2007) and anti-apoptotic (Bi et al., 2009) effects, properties also displayed by GDNF (Saavedra et al., 2008), which suggest that GDNF up-regulation could be an essential step in catalpol-induced neuroprotection, but this is currently unknown.

All of above are among the most common CTMs in China and widely available in Extract Granules, tablet, IV. They are now used to treat other diseases traditionally but not PD in China...