Zhichan Decoction Increases Dopaminergic Neurons in Parkinson's Disease

There is an increasing interest in treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) by increasing dopamine content and reducing dopaminergic metabolites in the brain.

Xuming Yang, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China and his team detected dopamine content and dopaminergic metabolites in the midbrain of PD rats, which were treated by neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation and Zhichan decoction administration, using high-performance liquid chromatography, and determined global optimization of dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid levels using genetic algorithm.

Results showed that NSC transplantation and Zhichan decoction administration increased dihydroxyphenylacetic acid levels up to 10-fold, while NSC transplantation alone resulted in a 3-fold increment.

Homovanillic acid levels showed no apparent change. These findings indicate that after NSC transplantation in PD rats, Zhichan decoction can promote differentiation of NSCs into dopaminergic neurons. Related results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 9, 2014).

Source: Eurekalert