Ayurvedic amalaki rasayana and rasa-sindoor suppress neurodegeneration in fly models of Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases

Abstract

We examined two Ayurvedic Rasayana formulations, claimed to facilitate 'healthy ageing', for their role in neuroprotection in fly models of polyQ (127Q and Huntington's) and Alzheimer's disorders. Our earlier findings showed that dietary supplement of Amalaki Rasayana, a preparation derived from Indian goose-berry fruits, and Rasa-Sindoor, an organo-metallic Bhasma prepared from mercury and sulphur, improves general well-being of fruit flies. Here we show that dietary supplement of either of these formu-lations during larval period substantially suppressed neurodegeneration in fly models of polyQ and Alz-heimer's disorders without any side-effects. Dietary Amalaki Rasayana or Rasa-Sindoor prevented accu-mulation of inclusion bodies and heat shock proteins, suppressed apoptosis, elevated the levels of hetero-geneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins and cAMP re-sponse element binding protein and at the same time improved the ubiquitin–proteasomal system for better protein clearance in affected cells. Our studies sug-gest, the potential of these Ayurvedic formulations in providing a holistic relief from the increasingly com-mon neurodegenerative disorders.