Current treatments of Parkinson’s disease aim only at restoring dopamine levels to improve symptoms, temporarily, while allowing the patient to continue to deteriorate. Neuroprotection is important in these patients to prevent continual deterioration. The pharmaceutical monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, rasagiline, has been found to be neuroprotective in Parkinson’s disease. The neuroprotective effect of rasagiline is a separate function from the MAO inhibitor effect.
Protection from oxidative damage is important in Parkinsonism, also. The protection from rasagiline was seen only at lower doses and disappeared at higher doses. The present study used rasagiline in combination with epigallocatechin (EGCG) from green tea to see if this combination would repair the damage seen in animal Parkinsonism. (EGCG is a strong iron chelator.)
This study demonstrated that rasagiline and EGCG have synergistic effects, when given in subclinical doses, in protecting dopamine producing brain cells in animals. That is, these two chemicals work very well together at doses which were ineffective when the rasagiline and EGCG were taken separately.
There is recent evidence that consuming green and black tea is inversely correlated with the incidence of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
CONCLUSION: EGCG and rasagiline have important benefits when used together in Parkinsonism in animals. They prevent damage to the dopamine neurons of the substantia nigra and restore dopamine levels. People who are on rasagiline might benefit from adding EGCG for the synergistic effects in the treatment of Parkinsonism.
NOTE: Rasagiline is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor that is commonly used in Parkinsonism.
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PMID: 20197647.
Summary #373.
