Keeping Herbful

In traditional Chinese medicine the herb Gastrodia elata Blume is used as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that leads to shaking, stiffness and balance problems. The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are caused by a lack of neurons that produce dopamine, a key player in regulating movement. However, the secret of this herbal medicine isn’t just with these neurons, but with brain cells nearby called glial cells. When fed food containing water extract of the herb, the glial cells (red) in fruit flies carrying a genetic mutation of Parkinson’s disease started producing a protein called Nrf2 (green). This protein stopped the series of events in the neighbouring dopamine-producing neurons which causes their demise. In fact, the herb-fed fruit flies had more of the essential neurons and less difficulties moving than their control counterparts. Further study in humans will be needed before its use as an alternative or complementary treatment.

Written by Katy Pallister

Katy Pallister

Writer

Katy is a freelance science educator, presenter, writer and producer based in London. She is a former Engagement and Events Officer at the MRC LMS.

• Image from work by Yu-En Lin and colleagues
• Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, November 2021