Ayurvedic Amalaki Rasayana and Rasa-Sindoor suppress neurodegeneration in fly models of Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases

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 gooseberry 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 formulations during larval period substantially suppressed neurodegeneration in fly models of polyQ and Alzheimer’s disorders without any side-effects. Dietary Amalaki Rasayana or Rasa-Sindoor prevented accumulation of inclusion bodies and heat shock proteins, suppressed apoptosis, elevated the levels of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins and cAMP response element binding protein and at the same time improved the ubiquitin–proteasomal system for better protein clearance in affected cells. Our studies suggest, the potential of these Ayurvedic formulations in providing a holistic relief from the increasingly common neurodegenerative disorders.