The Potent Neuro-Protective Herbal Medicine, Scientists Say

By Kyle J. Norton

Herbal Butterbur may have a profound and strong effect on protecting the neuron integrity and validity against the onset of neuro diseases, some scientists suggested.

Neuroprotective effects are the activity which protects neurons of the brain and spinal cord.

A neurologic deficit is a condition of the brain, spinal cord, leading to weaker muscles, nerves or part of the body.

The causes of neurological deficit include genetic disorders, congenital abnormalities or disorders, infections, lifestyle or environmental health problems associated with malnutrition, and brain injury, spinal cord injury or nerve injury.

People of neurologic deficit may experience certain medical conditions and symptoms including partial or complete paralysis, and loss of sensation, seizures, difficulty reading, and writing and walking and decreased alertness.

However, some researchers suggested the most serious symptoms is a  poor cognitive ability, depending on the parts of the brain or spinal cord which have been affected.

According to the statistic provided by the US government, more than 16 million people in the United States are living with cognitive impairment and disease with a tendency to increase at an alarming rate, particularly in the age group of 50 and over.

 People with cognitive impairment, according to the report are more than three times as many hospitals stay as individuals who are hospitalized for some other condition, causing a substantial burden to the US health care system.

Out of all neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias alone are estimated to be the third most expensive disease to treat in the United States.

The Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures 20106, wrote, “ The average Medicaid payment for a person aged 65 or older with Alzheimer’s or other dementias is nine times higher than that for other beneficiaries in the same age group.”

Butterbur, found in wet, marshy, damp land, including wetland, riverside, forest, etc., is a creeping underground plant, genus Petasites of 15 -20 species, belonging to the family Asteraceae, native to Northern Hemisphere.

The herbal medicine has been used in herbal medicine used as an pain reliever in the digestive system, including stomach, bile ducts, and duodenum, etc.

The chemical constituents of Butterbur include Petioles, petasitene and pethybrene, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-6”-O-acetylglucoside, and rutin, caffeic acid, alkaloids, S-petasin and iso-S-petasin, etc.

The Second Military Medical University on finding a natural ingredient or whole food for the treatment of neurologic deficit examine the effect of the total bakkenolides, a bioactive compound isolated from the herbal Butterbur, in vitro cerebral ischemia model and oxygen-glucose deprivation of cultured nerve cells.

Oral administration of total bakkenolides showed a significant immediate effect after reperfusion at doses of 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg markedly reduced brain infarct volume and neurological deficits.

The chemical compound also was found to attenuate cell death and apoptosis in primary cultured neurons subject to 1-h hypoxia followed by 24-h reoxygenation.

The compound also protects the neurons by inhibiting the protein involved production of inflammatory cytokines through blocking activation of the classical activation pathway due to the injury.

Further differentiation of the experiment, researchers discovered that total bakkenolides inhibit the activation of pathways associated with neuron apoptosis. 

Dr. the lead scientists after taking into account of co and confounders said, “our results provide a strong pharmacological basis for further understanding the potential therapeutic role of total bakkenolides in cerebral ischemic disease and shed new light on its neuroprotective mechanism”.

Moreover, in the examine the neurologic deficit effects of 4 novel bakkenolides – bakkenolide-Ia ( 1), bakkenolide-IIa ( 2), bakkenolide-IIIa ( 3) and bakkenolide-IVa ( 4) isolated from the extract of the rhizome of Petasites tricholobus, researchers showed the compounds 1 – 4 exert a significantly neuroprotective activity in primary cultured neurons exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation and oxidative insults by enhancing the antioxidant activity.

According to the VITRO assay, all these compounds exhibited significant neuroprotective and antioxidant activities.

The findings strongly suggested total bakkenolides and its derivative demonstrate neurologic deficits protective effects through blocking the mechanisms involved neuron cells apoptosis through their antioxidant property.

Taken altogether, herbal Butterbur processed bioactive compounds such as bakkenolides may be considered a functional herb for the prevention and combined with primary medicine for the treatment of neurologic deficits.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
References
(1) Total Bakkenolides Protects Neurons against Cerebral Ischemic Injury through Inhibition of Nuclear Factor-Κb Activation by Jiang Q, Xia Yy EY, Jm HE, Guo Ml EY, Rp LI. (PubMed)
(2) Bakkenolides from Petasites tricholobus and their neuroprotective effects related to antioxidant activities by Wang YL, Li RP, Guo ML, Zhang G, Zhang N, Ma YL.(PubMed)
(3) Protection by petaslignolide A, a major neuroprotective compound in the butanol extract of Petasites japonicus leaves, against oxidative damage in the brains of mice challenged with kainic acid by Cui HS, Kim MR, Sok DE. (PubMed)