Jay Rabadia

ABSTRACT

The well known pathology of PD is the preferential death of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compact ( SNpc ), causing a decrease in striatal dopamine ( DA ) and presence of intracellular a – synuclein- positive inclusions called Lewy bodies1. Acorus calamus is commonly known as ‘‘bach’’ or‘‘ugragandha’’ in India. Roots, rhizomes and leaves have been used in the Indian systems of traditional medicine for hundreds of years. The rhizome contains active ingredients possessing Insecticidal, Neuroprotective, Antifungal, Antibacterial and Allelopathic properties. Acorus calamus is a traditional medicinal plant that is commonly used for treating central nervous system abnormalities. Methanolic extract of rhizomes of Acorus calamus was administered at three level dose (250, 500 & 750 mg/kg ) on a rat model of Parkinson’s disease induced by 6-hyroxydopamine. The results showed that Acorus calamus markedly improved the locomotor, motor balance, coordination in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats. The expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in substantia nigra (SN) and the content of extracellular dopamine (DA) in striatum were also significantly increased after AC treatment. Moreover, significant AC increased the level of DJ-1 & decreased the ?-synuclein levels in western blotting analysis. We propose that AC has potent anti-Parkinson property possibly through increasing TH, DA, DJ-1& Decreasing ?-synuclein in PD rats2.