HERBAL AND ALTERNATE THERAPIES FOR PARKINSON¿S DISEASE

Herbal products for Parkinson's disease (PD) have been used worldwide in traditional medicine Especially in China, records of herbal prescriptions for treating Parkinson's disease might date back to about 2200 years ago and current literatures reflect active use of Herbal Medicines for Parkinson's disease until now. Practitioners and patients employ Herbal Medicines as an adjuvant therapy of conventional treatment for the purpose of reducing dose of dopaminergic drugs, adverse event related to prolonged usage of dopaminergic agents and improving PD symptoms. The current therapy available for PD primarily relies on Levodopa that offers the potential of slowing down disease progression to some extent but includes lot of side effects. Any potential drug capable of treating or halting the disease still remains to be identified. It is evident that redox stabilization and replenishment of mitochondrial function seem to be an important therapeutic approach against PD as both are required for optimal neuronal functioning. Enormous research done in this field has shown that some natural and synthetic products exhibit neuroprotective.