Botanical Therapeutics for Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) was first formally described by James Parkinson in 1817, but the shaking of limbs was described in the literature of several ancient civilizations, such as ancient Chinese civilization and ancient Indian civilization. Historically, botanical drugs were used as the main source for the treatment of such kind of disorders. In Western countries, plant extracts also occupied an important place in the earlier medications of PD. With the adventure of synthetic drugs, the role of plant-derived drugs in management of PD has been diminished. Nowadays, there is still no cure for PD, dopaminergic (DA) medication is the treatment of choice, which is just designed to ameliorate symptoms of PD, and long-term use of DA medication will result in reduced efficacy and severe adverse reactions. It is necessary to explore new methods for the treatment of PD. Chinese medicine (CM) developed a holistic and unique theoretical system, and botanical drugs are widely used in practice for more than two millennia. Modern pharmacological studies have proved that Chinese herbs have potential therapeutic effects on PD, such as enhancing neurotrophic activity, clearing protein aggregates, regulating neuroinflammation, etc. All the advances provide us with hope for developing CM as a mainstream medication for treating PD.