Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Comorbidity of Parkinson's Disease and Depression： A Review
10.13422/j.cnki.syfjx.20251902
- VernacularTitle:中医药在帕金森病与抑郁共病中的作用机制研究进展
- Author:
Qi ZHENG
1
;
Xiaomin XU
1
;
Simeng WANG
1
;
Shumin LIU
1
Author Information
1. Research Institute of Chinese Medicine，Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine， Harbin 150040，China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Parkinson's disease;
depression;
shared mechanisms;
traditional Chinese medicine;
Parkinson's disease-depression
- From:
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae
2026;32(4):268-276
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Parkinson's disease （PD） is a neurodegenerative disorder primarily characterized by motor dysfunction. Traditionally， its main clinical features include resting tremor， muscular rigidity， bradykinesia， and postural balance disorders. However， an increasing number of studies have shown that its non-motor symptoms （NMS） exert an even greater impact on patients' quality of life than motor symptoms， severely affecting daily functioning and increasing the burden on families and society. Among these， depression is one of the most common and most debilitating NMS， with statistics indicating that the incidence of depression among PD patients reaches as high as 40%-50%. The pathological mechanisms are complex， involving the interplay between degenerative changes in dopaminergic neurons and disruptions in emotional regulatory circuits， which poses a substantial challenge to clinical treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， characterized by holistic regulation and multi-target intervention， has demonstrated significant advantages in the treatment of PD and depression， offering new insights for managing PD-depression comorbidity. This study integrates research extracted from multiple databases， including PubMed， Web of Science， Google Scholar， and China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， that investigates the potential mechanisms of PD and depression as well as TCM-based treatments for these conditions. The aim is to elucidate the shared pathological mechanisms underlying PD and depression and to explore the therapeutic potential of TCM in effectively combating PD-depression comorbidity through these shared mechanisms， thereby providing valuable insights for the development of targeted therapies.
