Although
conventional treatments such as l-dopa and many more markedly improved motor
symptoms of Parkinson’s, long-term use is associated with severe adverse
effects that could significantly impact on the quality of life of patients with
Parkinson’s. Alternative therapies such as Chinese herbal medicine is proved to
be as effective as conventional medicine but with markedly less side-effect.
Very
recently Dr. Ahn S and colleagues investigated whether the modified Cheong-gan-tang
(淸肝湯 CGT,
KD5040) would have synergistic effects with l-dopa on motor function and reduce
l-dopa-induced dyskinesia. Modified Cheong-gan-tang (淸肝湯, KD5040),
consisting of Paeonia lactiflora Pall, Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort, Angelica gigas
Nakai, Bupleurum falcatum Linne, Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, and Paeonia
suffruticosa Andrews plus Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb and Pogostemon cablin Bentham
was co-administered with l-dopa to the Parkinson’s mouse model.
It
was shown that co-administration of CGT with low-dose l-dopa synergistically
improved the motor function. In addition, it significantly reversed
MPTP-induced lowering of substance P, improved enkephalin levels, both are
neuropeptides involved in the motor regulation in the basal ganglia. Further,
co-administration of both CGT and l-dopa ameliorated abnormal reduction in
glutamate content in the motor cortex. Moreover, modified CGT significantly
lowered abnormal involuntary movements and controlled l-dopa-induced abnormal
levels of striatal FosB, pDARPP-32, pERK, and pCREB, which is the early gene
expression pathway regulating occurrence of involuntary movement.
The
findings of study suggested that modified CGT can be a possible candidate for
adjunct therapy in treating motor dysfunction and dyskinesia in PD patients.
Reference
Ahn
S et al., Effects of a combination treatment of KD5040 and L-dopa in a mouse
model of Parkinson’s disease. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2017)
17:220. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28424060
No comments:
Post a Comment