Amelioration of CNS Toxicities of L-Dopa in Experimental Models of Parkinson’s disease by Concurrent Treatment with Tinospora cordifolia

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, primarily affecting people of ages over 45-55 years, although young adults and even children can also be affected. The gold standard drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is L-DOPA, but various studies have proved that the treatment with L-DOPA leads to the death of surviving dopaminergic neurons in the CNS. Hence we have approached to counteract the toxicities of L-DOPA therapy by coadministration of Tinospora cordifolia crude powder. On the zero day each animals were given with an intraperitoneal (ip) injection of 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) (20mg/kg) and after 48 hours the animals were treated with L-DOPA or L-DOPA plus Tinospora cordifolia crude powder upto 30 days. At the end of the study period we were evaluated the level of anxiety, grip strength and mitochondrial complex-I activity. The results revealed that the coadministration of Tinospora cordifolia crude powder protected the dopaminergic neurons when compared with Sham operated control group. In conclusion, we would like to state that the treatment with Tinospora cordifolia crude powder could reduce the toxicities of L-DOPA therapy for Parkinson’s disease.