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Rapamycin connection
One of the compounds, an alkaloid called isorhy, induced autophagy for alpha-synuclein at a similar rate to a drug called rapamycin. Rapamycin is normally used to suppress the immune system in transplant patients, but has recently been touted as a promising candidate for Parkinson's treatment because it prevents nerve cell death in flies with a Parkinson's-like disease. However, because rapamycin depresses the immune system, it would have serious side effects for people with Parkinson's. Gou teng, meanwhile, has been taken for centuries with no apparent side effects.

Further testing found that isorhy activates autophagy through a different pathway to rapamycin, which may explain why it does not affect the immune system in the same way. Li, who recently presented her results at the Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, will begin trials of Isorhy in rodents later this year.

http://www.newscient...treatments.html