Medicinal Plants and Natural Compounds as Antiparkinsonian Agents

Medicinal plants have been used since ages for the treatment of human diseases in the Indian medicinal system of Ayurveda. Parkinson's diseases (PD) on the other hand is a kind of neurodegenerative disorder that shows debilitating symptoms; and the treatment of the disease rely on the symptomatic management. The drugs available for the treatment of the disease show severe side effects on prolonged usage. Thus, many medicinal plants and their derivative natural compounds have been tested for their anti-Parkinsonian activity with minimal side effects. Mucuna pruriens, Withania somnifera, Tinospora cordifolia are the example of medicinal plants that have shown anti-Parkinsonian activity while the natural compounds found in medicinal plants like Baicalein, curcumin, Ginseng, Resveratol have also maintained the nerve cell function and prevented the neuronal death. Thus, the polyphenols and other bioactive constituent of medicinal plants should be further studied for their therapeutic intervention against PD.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Medicinal plants, polyphenols, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, dopaminergic neurons, substantia nigra.