(Natural News) Scientists at Fudan University in Shanghai looked at the effectiveness of Chinese herbs in protecting against Parkinson’s disease. Their findings were published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine.

• The team sought to determine the ideal formulation of Chinese herbs to create a formula with neuroprotective effects.
• They used a rotenone-induced model of Parkinson’s disease for the study.
• The following herbs were used: dihuang (Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch), rou cong rong (Cistanche deserticola Y.C.Ma), niuxi (Achyranthes bidentata Bl.) and shanzhuyu (Cornus officinalis Sieb. et Zucc).
• A total of seven recipes were made from the herbs, each with different proportions.
• The team used tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons in the substantia nigra pars compact, which were detected using immunochemistry. These neurons were exposed to rotenone to induce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
• High-performance liquid chromatography on all formulations to determine their likely mechanism.
• The results revealed that a 1:1:1:1 and 7:5:3:1 ratio of all the aforementioned herbs partially reversed the death of TH-positive neurons.

In sum, Chinese herbal formulations exhibited neuroprotective effects against Parkinson’s disease models. In addition, these effects may not come from a single active ingredient.

Learn more about other herbs that can have neuroprotective effects at ChineseMedicine.news.

Journal Reference:

Bao XX, Ma HH, Ding H, Li WW, Zhu M. PRELIMINARY OPTIMIZATION OF A CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE FORMULA BASED ON THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS IN A RAT MODEL OF ROTENONE-INDUCED PARKINSON’S DISEASE. Journal of Integrative Medicine. 2018 May 22. DOI: 10.1016/j.joim.2018.05.003