Wall Street

Green tea ingredient prevents Alzheimer's-like brain damage in mice

September 21, 2005

Online Stock Market Trading Researchers at the University of South (USF) have found that green tea may offer another potential health benefit - protecting the brain against the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.

ò aged mice that had drunk water (control), Dr. Unno tells Life Extension. âoreover, brain atrophy was suppressed in aged mice drinking green tea catechins. These results suggest that consumption of green tea is beneficial to prevent cognitive dysfunction.

Stock Investing Course In an article published Sept. 21 in the Journal of Neuroscience, USF researchers report that a component of green tea prevented Alzheimer's-like damage in the brains of mice genetically programmed to develop the neurodegenerative disease process. The component, called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), is a major antioxidant in green tea and has been widely studied for its reported protection against certain cancers.

Since oxidative stress is implicated in brain senescence, scientists investigated the effects of green tea polyphenols, a potent antioxidant, accelerated mice. The mice served as a model of brain senescence, with short life span, cerebral atrophy, and cognitive dysfunction. They were fed water containing 0.02% green tea polyphenol (equivalent to a mean daily dose of about 35 mg per kilogram of body weight) from the age of 1 month to 15 months.

Stock Market Game Now the USF team provides the first evidence that EGCG decreases production of the Alzheimer's-related protein, beta-amyloid, which can accumulate abnormally in the brain and lead to nerve damage and memory loss. This reduction in beta-amyloid was observed both in cell cultures and a mouse model for Alzheimer's disease. EGCG appears to block the initial process by which the Alzheimer's-related protein is formed in brain cells.

Similar benefits of green tea polyphenols on behavior, learning, and changes in the brain have been seen in other mouse models of Alzheimer disease. 77, 78 Even young, term supplementation with green tea catechins in their drinking water show improved memory and learning compared with control rats, and these psychological benefits have been linked to lower reactive oxygen species in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory. 79

Stock Investing Game After treating Alzheimer's mice for several months with daily injections of pure EGCG, the researchers observed a dramatic decrease - as much as 54 percent - of brain-clogging Alzheimer's plaques.

Additionally the catechins, found in Green Tea are known to possess potent antioxidant activity by protecting the body from the damaging effects of oxidative damage from free radicals.

Journal Prime Rate Street Wall "The findings suggest that a concentrated component of green tea can decrease brain beta-amyloid plaque formation," said senior study author Jun Tan, PhD, MD, director of the Neuroimmunology Laboratory at the Silver Child Development Center, USF Department of Psychiatry. "If beta-amyloid pathology in this Alzheimer's mouse model is representative of Alzheimer's disease pathology in humans, EGCG dietary supplementation may be effective in preventing and treating the disease."

/ Treatment formula helps to diminish uneven skin tone

> Aging Collagen Treatment with Green Tea extract. The Leayah Green Tea Collagen Facial Mask, with its gentle and soothing collagen formula, helps reduce the appearance of fine lines, prevent dryness, and smoothen skin texture. bacterial agent that helps prevent further damage to the skin. wrinkle treatment.

Stock Market News Green tea contains many antioxidants, including those known as flavonoids that can protect against free radical damage to the brain. However, Dr. Tan and colleagues demonstrated that other flavinoids in green tea actually oppose naturally-occurring EGCG's ability to prevent the harmful build-up of beta-amyloid. Thus, Dr. Tan said, drinking green tea alone would not likely have a beneficial effect through the same mechanism that EGCG works.

Stock Investing Basics "This finding suggests that green tea extract selectively concentrating EGCG would be needed to override the counteractive effect of other flavinoids found in green tea," said study co-author Doug Shytle, PhD. "A new generation of dietary supplements containing pure EGCG may lead to the greatest benefit for treating Alzheimer's disease." Dr. Tan said humans would likely need 1500 to 1600 mg of EGCG daily to approximate the injection dosage that benefited the Alzheimer's mice. That dosage has already been studied in healthy human volunteers and was found to be safe and well tolerated.

Stock Investing Software The USF researchers plan to study whether multiple oral doses of EGCG can improve memory loss in Alzheimer's mice as well as reducing their Alzheimer's plaque burden. "If those studies show clear cognitive benefits," Dr. Tan said, "we believe clinical trials of EGCG to treat Alzheimer's disease would be warranted."

Stock Market Trading Kavon Rezai-Zedah, a PhD candidate in the USF Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology was first author of the study. Other authors were Nan Sun, MS; Takashi Mori, PhD, Huayan Hou, MD; Deborah Jeanniton, BS; Jared Ehrhart; PhD candidate; Kirk Townsend, PhD; Jin Zeng, MS; David Morgan, PhD; John Hardy, PhD; and Terrence Town, PhD.

Stock Investing For Dummy University of South Florida Health

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]