Green Tea

www.perpetualcommotion.com
"Give with a free hand, but give only your own."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien The Children of Hurin
- Green Tea -

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Observations:

Green Tea Has Rejuvenating Effect on Damaged Brain Cells
Researchers at the Technion Institute of Science in Haifa have shown that feeding green tea extract to mice with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease protects brain cells from dying, and helps 'rescue' already damaged neurons in the brain...
http://alzheimersweekly.com/content/green-tea-has-rejuvenating-effect-damaged-brain-cells

EGCG remodels mature alpha-synuclein and amyloid-beta fibrils and reduces cellular toxicity. Bieschke J, Russ J, Friedrich RP, Ehrnhoefer DE, Wobst H, Neugebauer K, Wanker EE.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Apr 27;107(17):7710-5.

Abstract

Protein misfolding and formation of beta-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils or aggregates is related to cellular toxicity and decay in various human disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Recently, we demonstrated that the polyphenol (-)-epi-gallocatechine gallate (EGCG) inhibits alpha-synuclein and amyloid-beta fibrillogenesis. It associates with natively unfolded polypeptides and promotes the self-assembly of unstructured oligomers of a new type. Whether EGCG disassembles preformed amyloid fibrils, however, remained unclear. Here, we show that EGCG has the ability to convert large, mature alpha-synuclein and amyloid-beta fibrils into smaller, amorphous protein aggregates that are nontoxic to mammalian cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that the compound directly binds to beta-sheet-rich aggregates and mediates the conformational change without their disassembly into monomers or small diffusible oligomers. These findings suggest that EGCG is a potent remodeling agent of mature amyloid fibrils.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20385841?dopt=Abstract

Alzheimer Research Forum Comment by: Jun Tan, Terrence Town
    Submitted 27 April 2010     Posted 27 April 2010

...Erich Wanker and colleagues show that EGCG, the main polyphenolic constituent of green tea, reduces cellular toxicity by inhibiting β amyloid and α-synuclein fibrillogenesis...
http://www.alzforum.org/pap/annotation.asp?powID=101554

Green tea consumption and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study from the Tsurugaya Project 1.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb;83(2):355-61.

Kuriyama S, Hozawa A, Ohmori K, Shimazu T, Matsui T, Ebihara S, Awata S, Nagatomi R, Arai H, Tsuji I.

Division of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although considerable experimental and animal evidence shows that green tea may possess potent activities of neuroprotection, neurorescue, and amyloid precursor protein processing that may lead to cognitive enhancement, no human data are available.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the association between green tea consumption and cognitive function in humans.

DESIGN: We analyzed cross-sectional data from a community-based Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) conducted in 2002. The subjects were 1003 Japanese subjects aged > or =70 y. They completed a self-administered questionnaire that included questions about the frequency of green tea consumption. We evaluated cognitive function by using the Mini-Mental State Examination with cutoffs of <28, <26, and <24 and calculated multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of cognitive impairment.

RESULTS: Higher consumption of green tea was associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment. At the <26 cutoff, after adjustment for potential confounders, the ORs for the cognitive impairment associated with different frequencies of green tea consumption were 1.00 (reference) for < or =3 cups/wk, 0.62 (95% CI: 0.33, 1.19) for 4-6 cups/wk or 1 cup/d, and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.72) for > or =2 cups/d (P for trend = 0.0006). Corresponding ORs were 1.00 (reference), 0.60 (95% CI: 0.35, 1.02), and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.55, 1.38) (P for trend = 0.33) for black or oolong tea and 1.00 (reference), 1.16 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.73), and 1.03 (95% CI: 0.59, 1.80) (P for trend = 0.70) for coffee. The results were essentially the same at cutoffs of <28 and <24.

CONCLUSION: A higher consumption of green tea is associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment in humans.

PMID: 16469995 [PubMed]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16469995
Free article: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 2, 355-361, February 2006
              http://www.ajcn.org/content/83/2/355.long

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Known sources:

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Natural sources:

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References:

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, Green Tea Extract)

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a type of catechin and is the most abundant catechin in tea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGCG

Antioxidant in Green Tea May Fight Alzheimer's
Ingredient May Prevent Buildup of Plaque in Brain Linked to Alzheimer's Disease
http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20050920/antioxidant-in-green-tea-may-fight-alzheimers

Reduction of iron-regulated amyloid precursor protein and beta-amyloid peptide by (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate in cell cultures: implications for iron chelation in Alzheimer's disease
J Neurochem. 2006 Apr;97(2):527-36. Epub 2006 Mar 15.

"Thus, the natural non-toxic brain-permeable EGCG may provide a potential therapeutic approach for AD and other iron-associated disorders."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16539659

A Fortune in Tea Leaves—Extract Blocks Amyloid Formation
"31 May 2008. Fortune telling aside, green tea has been touted as a potential cure for a myriad of conditions, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases. Scientific evidence that the brew might work has just become stronger. In yesterday’s Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, researchers in Germany report that (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol found in green tea, prevents both amyloid-β (Aβ) and α-synuclein from forming toxic oligomers. The work suggests that EGCG works as a generic inhibitor of amyloids, making it a potential lead for treatments of not only AD and PD but perhaps any amyloidosis."
http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=1838

Green Tea Chemical Combined With Another May Hold Promise for Treatment of Brain Disorders

ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2009)
Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein structures known as amyloids. Amyloids are the primary culprits in fatal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases. Their study, published in the current issue of Nature Chemical Biology (December 2009), may ultimately contribute to future therapies for these diseases... The team then exposed the yeast amyloid structures to a combination of the EGCG and the DAPH-12 and found that all of the amyloid structures broke apart and dissolved...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203091856.htm

()-Epigallocatechin gallate inhibits endotoxin-induced expression of inflammatory cytokines in human cerebral microvascular endothelial cells
Jieliang Li, Li Ye, Xu Wang, Jinping Liu, Yizhong Wang, Yu Zhou and Wenzhe Ho
Journal of Neuroinflammation 2012, 9:161 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-9-161
Published: 6 July 2012
...
Results
EGCG significantly suppressed the LPS-induced expression of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in hCMECs. EGCG also inhibited the expression of MCP-1/CCL2, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. Functional analysis showed that EGCG induced the expression of tight junction proteins (Occludin and Claudin-5) in hCMECs. Investigation of the mechanism showed that EGCG had the ability to inhibit LPS-mediated NF-kappaB activation. In addition, 67-kD laminin receptor was involved in the anti-inflammatory effect of EGCG.
Conclusions
Our results demonstrated that LPS induced inflammatory cytokine production in hCMECs, which could be attenuated by EGCG. These data indicate that EGCG has a therapeutic potential for endotoxin-mediated endothelial inflammation.
http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/9/1/161/abstract

Notes:

Re. Anatabine blocking immune response to bacteria: “The bacterial membranes in at least the B31, NL303 and N40 strains of B. burgdorferi do not contain lipopolysaccharide, which is extremely atypical for Gram negative bacteria; instead, the membranes contain glycolipids.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease_microbiology

Which means to me that Anatabine COULD block this immune response???

Brainy Beverage: Study Reveals How Green Tea Boosts Brain Cell Production to Aid Memory
ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2012) — It has long been believed that drinking green tea is good for the memory. Now researchers have discovered how the chemical properties of China's favorite drink affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning… EGCG, (epigallocatechin-3 gallate) a key property of green tea. While EGCG is a known anti-oxidant, the team believed it can also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative diseases.

"We proposed that EGCG can improve cognitive function by impacting the generation of neuron cells, a process known as neurogenesis," said Bai. "We focused our research on the hippocampus, the part of the brain which processes information from short-term to long-term memory."...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120905083852.htm

Green tea epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) promotes neural progenitor cell proliferation and sonic hedgehog pathway activation during adult hippocampal neurogenesis.
Wang Y, Li M, Xu X, Song M, Tao H, Bai Y.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2012 Aug;56(8):1292-303. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201200035. Epub 2012 Jun 13.
Source: Department of Medical Genetics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, P. R. China
Abstract
SCOPE:
Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is a lifelong feature of brain plasticity that appears to be critically involved in adult brain function and neurological disease. Recent studies suggest that (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is the main polyphenolic constituent of green tea, may be used for the prevention and treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases. We hypothesized that EGCG promotes adult neurogenesis, which may be beneficial to hippocampus-dependent learning and memory.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
We show that EGCG treatment significantly increased the number of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU)-labeled cells in adult hippocampal neural progenitor cell (NPC) cultures and in the dentate gyrus of adult mice. Meanwhile, EGCG markedly improved spatial cognition in mice. These events are associated with the sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway. We observed that EGCG triggered a robust upregulation of Shh receptor (Patched) mRNA and protein expression in cultured NPCs as well as an upregulation of the downstream Shh transcriptional target Gli1. These changes were further confirmed in the hippocampus of mice administered EGCG. The blockage of the Shh signal with the pharmacological inhibitor cyclopamine attenuated EGCG-induced hippocampal neurogenesis.
CONCLUSION:
Our results provide strong evidence that EGCG enhances adult hippocampal neurogenesis.
PMID: 22692966 [PubMed]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22692966

Green Tea Extract Interferes With the Formation of Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer's Disease
Mar. 5, 2013 — Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain... The specific molecule in green tea, ( -- )-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, also known as EGCG, prevented aggregate formation and broke down existing aggregate structures in the proteins that contained metals -- specifically copper, iron and zinc.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130305145137.htm
"Insights into antiamyloidogenic properties of the green tea extract (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate toward metal-associated amyloid-β species"
http://www.pnas.org/content/110/10/3743

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