Chinese herbs may have role in Parkinson’s treatment

Chinese herbs

Chinese medicines used to tone up the kidney may have an important role in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly.

One of its characteristics is the loss of neurons in the brain which supply dopamine to the central nervous system.

This controls many brain functions including voluntary movement and a board array of behavioural processes like mood, reward, addiction and stress.

Chinese medicines used to tone the kidney have shown a significant improvement in the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease although the mechanism remains unclear.

The medicines such as Herba Epimedii and Herba Cistanches can protect nerve cells according to a recent study in the journal Neural Regeneration Research.