A compound that is abundant in celery, chamomile or camomile and green peppers or pimentos reduces brain inflammation and may help people affected by Alzheimer’s, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
A team led by Saebyeol Jang, University of Illinois, said the compound called luteolin in water for 21 days was administered to mice in the laboratory and found a relaxation of the induced brain inflammation.
Luteolin is a flavonoid compound called that group includes a number of chemical structures that give color and smell of plants that for years has been noted for its antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory.
The researchers studied how the luteolin acts on microglia, small cells with elongated nucleus and short, irregular extensions that originate in the marrow and reach the nervous system by the blood.
The microglia are phagocytes, mononuclear soldiers who defend the central nervous system and devour the bodies that attack.
Previous studies have shown that flavonoids help to counteract the dementia caused by inflammation in the brain in diseases like Alzheimer’s or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, known popularly as mad cow disease.
For their experiment, Saebyeol Jang and colleagues in the Program of Integrative Immunology and Behavior used two strains of cultured microglia cells, and found that luteolin reduces inflammation caused by a bacterial molecule.
Component of celery, chamomile and sweet peppers defenses nourishes the brain
For 21 days the researchers gave mice luteolin water and then injected a liposacárido them, a component of the outer membrane of bacteria that the immune system recognizes pathogen, and thus begins the defense mechanism of inflammation.
“The consumption of luteolin reduced the inflammation induced liposacárido within four hours after the injection,” the article said.
“Furthermore, luteolin decreased the induction of inflammation by liposacárido in the hippocampus, but not in the cortex and cerebellum.
The authors concluded that “luteolin may be useful in alleviating inflammation” of the brain, and pointed to its potential use in treating this condition in human patients.
Tags: Alzheimer, brain inflammation, celery, chamomile, luteolin, sweet peppers
