Research Article
The Antiparkinsonian and Antidyskinetic Mechanisms of
Mucuna pruriens in the MPTP-Treated Nonhuman Primate
Christopher A. Lieu,1 Kala Venkiteswaran,2, 3 Timothy P. Gilmour,2, 3
Anand N. Rao,2, 3 Andrew C. Petticoffer,2, 3 Erin V. Gilbert,4 Milind Deogaonkar,4
Bala V.Manyam,2 and Thyagarajan Subramanian2, 3
1 Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA 94945, USA
2Department of Neurology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
3Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
4Center for Neurological Restoration, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Thyagarajan Subramanian, tsubram@yahoo.com
Received 26 May 2012; Accepted 27 July 2012
Academic Editor: Paul Siu-Po Ip
Copyright © 2012 Christopher A. Lieu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Chronic treatment with levodopa (LD) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) can cause drug induced dyskinesias.Mucuna pruriens endocarp
powder (MPEP) contains several compounds including natural LD and has been reported to not cause drug-induced dyskinesias.
We evaluated the effects of Mucuna pruriens to determine if its underlying mechanistic actions are exclusively due to LD. We first
comparedMPEP with and without carbidopa (CD), and LD+CD in hemiparkinsonian (HP)monkeys. Each treatment ameliorated
parkinsonism.We then compared the neuronal firing properties of the substantia nigra reticulata (SNR) and subthalamic nucleus
(STN) in HP monkeys with MPEP+CD and LD+CD to evaluate basal ganglia circuitry alterations. Both treatments decreased
SNR firing rate compared to HP state. However, LD+CD treatments significantly increased SNR bursting firing patterns that were
not seen with MPEP+CD treatments. No significant changes were seen in STN firing properties. We then evaluated the effects
of a water extract of MPEP. Oral MPWE ameliorated parkinsonism without causing drug-induced dyskinesias. The distinctive
neurophysiological findings in the basal ganglia and the ability to ameliorate parkinsonism without causing dyskinesias strongly
suggest that Mucuna pruriens acts through a novel mechanism that is different from that of LD.
Full article URL:
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...CRxcvxYWhcZk0w

isn't there a standardized mucuna product already manufactured in india? has a number in the name?
initially i'd think i wouldn't want to depend on the vagaries of nature - drought, duisease, etc. wiping out my l-dopa supply and the current drought should be a lesson, some farmers even had their irrigation water cut off as water supplies dried up but i guess suppliers could stockpile product but personally, if there are other chemicals in mucana that are beneficial, i'd rather discover them and ultimately synthesize them rather than depend on an agricultural product. i'm sure they can come up with a standardized product - millers have to blend many flours to produce the same product year after year, same with whiskey makers, tobacco, marijuana might be the model, synthetic THC isn't as affective as smoking the whole plant.

wonder when they will test on humans, i doubt there is much danger in giving the mucana product to a human with advanced pd, they'd know in a day if it had the same affect as in monkeys and if there were any serious side affects. puking your guts but no dyskinesia might not be an ideal treatment.

still, if their product is a simple water extract, what company would make the investment to develop a product when it could be easily copied? we'd be talking about as many mfg;s as there are for vit-c, i guess that's not bad.

i think your title is very misleading btw, the experiment involved monkeys, not humans, they used a mucana extract THAT ONLY A LAB COULD PRODUCE EASILY and in reading the paper it appeared sinemet produced better UPDRS(?) scores,

"Effects of MPWE and LD. MPEP was
dissolved in sterile water and thoroughly mixed for 30–
45 mins. The mixture was then centrifuged at 14,000–15,000
RPM for 15–20 mins, and the supernatant was extracted
and filtered. The MPWE solution was then stored in sterile
containers at 4◦C. Prior to administration, the MPWE
solution was briefly agitated and dispensed orally. The dosage
concentration of MPWE was based on 4-5% of natural
occurring LD in MPEP such that the MPWE solution had
approximately 24mg LD per mL.
]


I also have to wonder about the following in possibly causing dyskinesias by possibly producing a very quick increase in l-dopa:
"When
compliance was an issue with oral LD+CD, animals received
systemic injections of LD at the equivalent optimal doses
of oral LD (LD methyl ester with benserazide (BZ))."


"3.1. MPEP and LD Effects on Parkinsonism and Basal Ganglia
Electrophysiology. mUPDRS scores on placebo were 15.6 ±
2.6 and decreased to 8.0 ± 1.6 with MPEP alone, 7.7 ± 1.5
with MPEP+CD, and 4.5 ± 1.1 with LD+CD, optimal doses
(Figure 1). These doses caused no observable adverse effects.
????????

I merely posted the paper and you and others may reject it's conclusions. As for me, I did not present a critique to the paper although I am generally skeptical to all research. The wording of my title is derived directly from the paper discussion section which says:
"Our study is the first to demonstrate that a simple water extract of Mucuna pruriens endocarp powder with no additives has a superior effect to the combination of MPE+BZ on parkinsonism and that MPE alone is superior to LD alone or LD+BZ combinational therapy in terms of efficacy of ameliorating parkinsonism with dramatically reduced risk for DID"
Thank you any way for reading the paper and presenting a critical analysis of its claims !
Imad

we all view things differently but my philosophy when posting on this board is "DO NO HARM". someone who didn't read the full report might just run out and buy mucuana and run into problems, not realizing that a water extract was used, it was with primates, and there were serious side affects ingesting therapeutic amounts of raw mucuana.

When growing mucuna ( and fava beans) , I always steam them before eating or using them to make l-dopa snacks. I never thought about the powder in the capsules being RAW, and the bulk powders also?...they may be completely raw or they may be dried in substantial heat to kill toxins.
Does anybody know???