as used herein and in the claims , “ comprising ” means including the following elements but not excluding others . in this invention , the inventors have identified a small - molecule autophagy inducer , neferine , which is a bisbenzylisoquinline alkaloid from the traditional chinese medicinal herb nelumbo nucifera , and disclosed the use thereof as a neuro - protective agent . it is shown that neferine can lower the protein level and toxicity of mutant huntingtin in pc - 12 cells through an autophagy related gene7 ( atg7 ) dependent pathway . for the first time the neuro - protective function of neferine in cellular level is reported in this invention , which has led to its further development as a neuro - protective agent . the following preparations and examples are given to enable those skilled in the art to more clearly understand and to practice the present invention . they should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention , but merely as being illustrative and representative thereof . example 1 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate the autophagic effect of neferine in pc - 12 cells . quantification of autophagy gfp - lc3 puncta . gfp - lc3 puncta formation was quantified as previously described [ 2 ]. in brief , pc - 12 cells grown on coverslips in a 6 - well plate were fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde for 20 minutes at room temperature and then rinsed with pbs . slides were mounted with fluorsave ™ mounting media ( calbiochem , san diego , calif .) and examined by fluorescence microscopy . the number of gfp - positive cells with gfp - lc3 puncta formation was examined under the nikon eclipse 80i microscope . representative images were captured with ccd digital camera spot rt3 ™ ( diagnostic instruments , inc ., melville , n . y .). to quantify for autophagy , the percentage of cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence was calculated by counting the number of the cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence in gfp - positive cells . a minimum of 150 cells from 3 randomly selected fields was scored . detection of autophagic marker protein lc3 conversion . after neferine treatments with or without autophagy inhibitor ( 3 - methyladenine , 3 - ma ) and protease inhibitor ( 10 μg / ml e64d and pepstain a ), cells were harvested and lysed in ripa buffer ( cell signaling technologies inc ., beverly , mass .). the cell lysates were then resolved by sds - page . after electrophoresis , the proteins from sds - page were transferred to nitrocellulose membrane which was then blocked with 5 % non - fat dried milk for 60 minutes . the membrane was then incubated with lc3 primary antibodies ( 1 : 1000 ) in tbst overnight at 4 ° c . after that , the membrane was further incubated with hrp - conjugated secondary antibodies for 60 minutes . finally , protein bands were visualized by using the ecl western blotting detection reagents ( invitrogen , paisley , scotland , uk ). results : pc - 12 cells with gfp - lc3 expression were incubated with neferine and the percentage of cells which showed an increase in autophagosome formation ( as represented by gfp - lc3 puncta formation ) was monitored by immunofluorescence microscopy . as shown in fig1 b and 1c , neferine treatment ( 7 . 5 μm neferine with duration of 24 h ) increased the percentage of cells with gfp - lc3 puncta formation significantly . the data of pc - 12 cells with gfp - lc3 expression without any treatment of neferine was used as control . furthermore , there was a significant reduction in gfp - lc3 puncta formation when cells were treated with the presence the autophagy inhibitor ( 3 - methyladenine , 3 - ma ), a specific inhibitor of the class iii pi3k which stops autophagy upon inhibition [ 19 ]. the results suggest the autophagic activity of neferine . to further confirm its autophagic activity , pc - 12 cells treated with neferine were analyzed by western blot for lc3 - i to lc3 - ii conversion . to differentiate that the autophagy effect was due to lc3 - ii formation , rather than failure of fusion between autophagosome and lysosomes [ 20 ], level of lc3 - ii was assayed with the presence of two lysosomal inhibitors ( e64d and pepstatin a ) that block the fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes . as shown in fig1 d , neferine increases the rate of lc3 - ii formation in the presence of protease inhibitors . these data suggested that neferine induces autophagy as a result of increased autophagosome formation but not due to failure of autolysosome formation . conclusion : the data of this study suggested that neferine is an autophagy enhancer in pc - 12 cells . example 2 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate the molecular mechanism of neferine in autophagy induction . detection of mtor signaling marker proteins and lc3 - ii . pc - 12 cells were treated with neferine ( 7 . 5 μm ) from 0 - 24 h . cells treated with 0 . 3 μm of rapamycin ( rap ) for 24 h were used as the positive control . cell lysate was then harvested and analyzed for p - ampk , ampk , p - p70s6k , p70s6k and α - tubulinrespectively . pc - 12 cells were treated with 7 . 5 μm of neferine with or without ampk inhibitor ( compound c , cc , 5 μm ) for 24 h for the detection of lc3 - ii marker . cell lysates were analyzed for lc3 i / ii and β - actin , respectively . after that , the membrane was further incubated with hrp - conjugated secondary antibodies for 60 minutes . finally , protein bands were visualized by using the ecl western blotting detection reagents ( invitrogen ). quantification of neferine - mediated autophagy in the presence of specific inhibitors . gfp - lc3 puncta formation was quantified as previously described [ 2 ]. in brief , pc - 12 cells expressing gfp - lc3 were treated with 7 . 5 μm neferine in the presence of compound c ( cc , 5 μm ) for 12 h . the cells were then fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde for 20 minutes at room temperature and then rinsed with pbs . slides were mounted with fluorsave ™ mounting media ( calbiochem ) and examined by fluorescence microscopy . to quantify for autophagy , the percentage of cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence was calculated by counting the number of the cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence in gfp - positive cells . a minimum of 150 cells from 3 randomly selected fields was scored . results : neferine treatment ( 7 . 5 μm neferine with duration of 24 h ) was found to activate the phosphorylation of ampk in a time dependent manner as shown in fig2 a , and this activation was also accompanied by a concomitant reduction in its downstream p70s6k phosphorylation . in addition , there was a significant reduction in neferine - induced gfp - lc3 puncta formation in pc - 12 cells treated with the presence of ampk inhibitor ( compound c ) for autophagy induction as shown in fig2 b & amp ; c . pc - 12 cells with gfp - lc3 expression without any treatment of neferine was used as control . the observation was further confirmed by a decrease in lc3 - ii level as revealed by western blot analysis ( as illustrated in fig2 d ). example 3 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate the clearance of mutant huntingtin egfp - hdq 55 / 74 by neferine . removal of mutant huntingtin . pc - 12 cells were transfected transiently with egfp - hdq 55 / 74 plasmids for 24 hours using lipofectamine plus ltx reagent ( invitrogen ) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol . the transfected cells were then treated with 7 . 5 μm neferine for 24 hours . the removal of mutant huntingtin , egfp - hdq 55 and 74 , was then quantitated by immunoblotting with antibody against egfp . results : as a potent autophagy inducer , the ability of neferine to enhance the clearance of mutant huntingtin in vitro is studied . the mutant huntingtin with 55 or 74 cag trinucleotide repeats ( egfp - hdq 55 or egfp - hdq 74 ) was transiently overexpressed in pc - 12 cells . as shown in fig3 neferine enhanced the clearance of overexpressed egfp - tagged mutant huntingtin with 55 or 74 cag repeats . conclusion : neferine may work as a useful neuroprotective agent through accelerating the clearance of mutant huntingtin in vitro . example 4 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate that the autophagic effect of neferine is dependent on the presence of autophagy - related gene 7 ( atg7 ). quantification of autophagy gfp - lc3 puncta in atg7 wild type and deficient mefs . gfp - lc3 puncta formation was quantified as previously described [ 2 ]. in brief , both atg7 wild - type and deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts ( mefs ) grown on coverslips in a 6 - well plate were treated with indicated concentrations of neferine . the cells were then fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde for 20 minutes at room temperature and then rinsed with pbs . slides were mounted with fluorsave ™ mounting media ( calbiochem , san diego , calif .) and examined by fluorescence microscopy . the number of gfp - positive cells with gfp - lc3 puncta formation was examined under the nikon eclipse 80i microscope . representative images were captured with ccd digital camera spot rt3 ™ ( diagnostic instruments , inc ., melville , n . y .). to quantify for autophagy , the percentage of cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence was calculated by counting the number of the cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence in gfp - positive cells . a minimum of 150 cells from 3 randomly selected fields was scored . results : neferine treatment ( 7 . 5 μm neferine with duration of 24 h ) was found to induce gfp - lc3 puncta formation in wild type atg7 cells ( atg7 +/+) but not in atg7 - knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts ( atg7 −/−) as shown in fig4 a & amp ; 4b , indicating that the neferine - induced autophagy is dependent on the presence of autophagy - related gene7 ( atg7 ). in fig4 b the four columns from left to right are control - atg7 +/+, neferine - atg7 +/+, control - atg7 −/− and neferine - atg7 −/−. atg7 wild - type and deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts was used as control . conclusion : neferine works as an autophagy enhancer which depends on autophagy related gene ( atg7 ) for the induction of autophagy . example 5 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate that the clearance of mutant huntingtin by neferine requires autophagy induction . quantification of mutant huntingtin aggregates in atg7 wild type and deficient mefs . in brief , both egfp - hdq74 transfected atg7 wild - type and deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts ( mefs ) grown on coverslips in a 6 - well plate were treated with indicated concentrations of neferine . the cells were then fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde for 20 minutes at room temperature and then rinsed with pbs . slides were mounted with fluorsave ™ mounting media ( calbiochem , san diego , calif .) and examined by fluorescence microscopy . the number of cells with gfp - aggregates formation was examined under the nikon eclipse 80i microscope . representative images were captured with ccd digital camera spot rt3 ™ ( diagnostic instruments , inc ., melville , n . y .). to quantify for the clearance of mutant huntingtin , the percentage of cells with gfp - aggregates was calculated by counting the number of the cells with punctate gfp - lc3 fluorescence in gfp - positive cells . a minimum of 150 cells from 3 randomly selected fields was scored . results : as shown in fig3 of example 3 , the western blot analysis confirmed that neferine can enhance the clearance of inclusions formed by egfp - hdq74 . the results of example 5 further confirm that the protective effect of neferine was due to an atg7 dependent autophagic effect , wild type atg7 and atg7 - knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts were transfected with egfp - hdq74 for fluorescent inclusions formation . as illustrated in fig5 a and 5b , neferine treatment ( 7 . 5 μm neferine with duration of 24 h ) is shown to enhance the clearance of mutant huntingtin egfp - hdq74 inclusions in autophagy - wild type cells ( atg7 +/+), but not in autophagy - deficient cells ( atg7 −/−), suggesting the compound - mediated neuroprotective effect was autophagy dependent . in fig5 b the four columns from left to right are egfp - hdq74 - atg7 +/+, egfp - hdq74 - neferine - atg7 +/+, egfp - hdq74 - atg7 −/− and egfp - hdq74 - neferine - atg7 −/−. egfp - hdq74 transfected atg7 wild - type and deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts was used as control . conclusion : neferine - enhanced clearance of mutant huntingtin requires the induction of autophagy in cells . example 6 describes in vitro cytotoxicity of neferine in a rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cells ( pc - 12 ). cell culture and cytotoxicity assay : the test compound of neferine was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) at a final concentration of 100 mmol / l and stored at − 20 ° c . for cell viability assay measured by crystal violet staining , pc - 12 cells were incubated in 35 mm disc followed by the addition of 7 . 5 μm neferine for 24 hours . the cells were then incubated with crystal violet for 10 minutes followed by a ddh 2 o wash . the stained cell images were captured by ccd digital camera spot rt3 ™ under the nikon eclipse 80i microscope with 4 × magnification . cell viability was quantified by dissolving stained cells in 10 % acetic acid ( 200 μl / well ). the colorimetric reading of the solute mixture was then determined by spectrophotometer at od 560 nm . the percentage of cell viability was calculated using the following formula : cell viability (%)= cells number treated / cells number dmso control × 100 . data were obtained from three independent experiments . results : there was no significant morphological damage found in pc - 12 cells treated with neferine for 24 hours as revealed by crystal violet assay , as shown in fig6 a and 6b . pc - 12 cells was used as control . example 7 describes an in vitro study to demonstrate that neferine reduces toxicity in pc - 12 cells expressing mutant huntingtin . cell cytotoxicity assay : cytotoxicity was assessed using the 3 -( 4 , 5 - dimethylthiazol - 2 - yl )- 2 , 5 - diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay . pc - 12 cells were transfected with or without mutant huntingtin egfp - hdq 55 and 74 for 16 h , the pc - 12 cells ( 4000 cells ) were then seeded on 96 - well plates per well and then exposed to 7 . 5 μm of neferine for 24 h days . subsequently , 10 μl of mtt reagents was added to each well and incubated at 37 ° c . for 4 hours , followed by the addition of 100 μl solubilization buffer ( 10 % sds in 0 . 01 mol / l hcl ) and overnight incubation . absorbance at 585 nm was determined from each well on the following day . the percentage of cell viability was calculated using the following formula : cell viability (%)= cells number treated / cells number dmso control × 100 . data was obtained from three independent experiments . results : with the result that neferine enhanced the clearance of mutant huntingtin in vitro , pc - 12 cells with egfp - hdq 74 or egfp - hdq 55 were overexpressed and then the effect of neferine on mutant huntingtin - induced cell death was studied . as shown in fig7 , while transient expression of mutant huntingtin led to a decrease in cell viability , neferine attenuated cell death induced by mutant huntingtin . in fig7 , the five columns from left to right are control , hdq55 , hdq74 , hdq55 - neferine and hdq74 - neferine . pc - 12 cells was used as control . conclusion : consistent with the previous findings that neferine enhanced the clearance of mutant huntingtin in protein levels , results of this study therefore supported the potential therapeutic role of neferine working as a neuroprotective agent , which reduced cell death induced by mutant huntingtin in cellular model . the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are thus fully described . although the description referred to particular embodiments , it will be clear to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with variation of these specific details . hence this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein . 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the present invention discloses a method of treating neurodegenerative disorder comprising administering an effective amount of an alkaloid which is a bisbenzylisoquinline alkaloid isolated from the traditional chinese medicinal herb nelumbo nucifera . the pharmaceutical composition thereof for treating huntington &# 39 ; s disease is also disclosed .