Natural-product-based Inhibitor to Treat Parkinson Identified by Chinese Researchers

By Wu Fang, Research Institute of Systems Biomedicine

Shanghai, March 20, 2014, –A novel natural-product-based inhibitor for the treatment of Parkinson has been identified from the endemic plant in Xishuangbanna as a result of the interdisciplinary cooperation between biology and chemistry, led by Wu Fang research group, from Shanghai Jiaotong University(SJTU) Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, and Zhang Weidong research group, from School of Pharmacy. The findings have been published on the ACS Chemical Biology, a well-known periodical of American Chemical Society (ACS).
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The research groups have identified the natural product with a unique chemical structure, which could suppress the activity of hDDC and dopamine levels at low micromolar concentrations in cells, from the extract of Euonymus glabra Roxb, the endemic plant in Xishuangbanna.

The research has been accomplished by the joint efforts of Zhang Yuanyuan, a graduate candidate trained by Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine and Shanghai Ocean University, and Ren Jie, a doctoral candidate from School of Pharmacy, under the guidance of Wu Fang and Zhang Weidong, the corresponding authors of the paper.