Huperzine A, a dietary supplement derived from the Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata, Huperzine A has been shown to be useful in the treatment of symptoms of dementia of the Alzheimer type. Huperzine A (HupA), extracted from a club moss (Huperzia serrata), is a sesquiterpene alkaloid and a powerful and reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). It has been used in China for centuries for the treatment of swelling, fever and blood disorders. It has demonstrated both memory enhancement in animal and clinical trials and neuroprotective effects. Recently it has undergone double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with significant improvements both to cognitive function and the quality of life.
This herb is rare in nature and it’s hard to extract high alkaloids, that is why some labs managed to make synthetic huperzine a 1%. I am writing this blog to help people easily understand the differences between the two ones.
Firstly, the appearances, they are two different colors as below, it’s easy to understand because most herb extracts are brown color，because most of the traditional Chinese medicine extract contains the most substances for starch, polysaccharide, mucus and so on, these substances mixed in water solution to the color.
Secondly, the assay，the content of huperzine in plants ranged from 0.006% to 0.120%. Still, to extract 1 kilogram of huperzine a, nearly 1, 000 kilograms of snake-foot hemlock is needed. Coupled with the slow growth of ferns and difficult reproduction, huperzine a is expensive.
Common specifications on the market are 1%,5%, and 99%, actually 99% most are synthetic 1% is the main specification selling on the supplement market. What are the rest contents in huperzine A 1% Natural and Synthetic? In natural ones, there are many complicated other ingredients extracted from the herb, like other alkaloids, polysaccharide, and plant starch, etc.while in synthetic huperzine A 1%, the test 99% content is dextrin.
Thirdly, mechanism of action, this point is important when considering to choose natural one and a synthetic one. Study shows a similar biological mechanism of action between the two, but that the racemic mixture of (+/-)Huperzine A has a weaker biological activity than the natural product (-)Huperzine A, presumably due to the presence in the mixture of (+)Huperzine A, which is considerably less potent than the (-)isomer.
Finally,hope you do have a clear undertanding of the two ones.