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                      African Plant Reveals Possible Treatment for Aging Brain

                      Published by Life Extension

                      The Salk Institute for Biological Studies issued the following news release:

                      For hundreds of years, healers in Sao Tome e Principe–an island off the western coast of Africa–have prescribed cata-manginga leaves and bark to their patients. These pickings from the Voacanga africana tree are said to decrease inflammation and ease the symptoms of mental disorders.

                      Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered that the power of the plant isn’t just folklore: a compound isolated from Voacanga africana protects cells from altered molecular pathways linked to Alzheimer’s disease (http://www.salk.edu/ra/alzheimers_and_aging.html), Parkinson’s disease and the neurodegeneration that often follows a stroke.

                      “What this provides us with is a source of potential new drug targets,” says senior author Pamela Maher, a senior staff scientist in Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory(http://www.salk.edu/faculty/cellular_neurobiology_laboratory.html). The results were published this week in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874114004942).

                      Antonio Currais, a research associate who works with Maher, was visiting family in his nativePortugal when he crossed paths with Maria do Ceu Madureira, an ethnopharmacology researcher at the University of Coimbra. For the past twenty years, Madureira has been surveying the use of herbal medicine on the island. Currais and Maher had recently developed a series of tests to screen compounds for their potential use in treating neurodegenerative disorders and Currais saw the perfect chance to put the assay to the test. He began a collaboration with Madureira’s team.

                      “There was already a lot of descriptive information of particular plants that have potential effects on the nervous system,” Currais says. “We took that further to quantitatively document the real neuroprotective action of the compounds in these plants.”

                      Currais and Maher began studying seven different extracts collected from five species of plants inSao Tome e Principe. Three of the five had been reported by local healers to have effects on the nervous system and two were used as controls. The Salk research team put each sample through different assays–all conducted in living human and mouse cells–designed to test their potential impact against neurodegeneration.

                      One assay tested the ability of the plant extracts to protect cells against oxidative stress, a byproduct of metabolism that can cause DNA damage and has been linked to age-related neurodegeneration. Another tested anti-inflammatory properties of the compounds. A third test measured whether the samples could block the build-up of beta-amyloid peptides in neurons, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

                      “I was surprised at how potent they were,” says Maher. “I thought maybe we’d see a little bit of activity in some of the assays and then have to separate out individual components to see a more profound effect.” But one sample in particular–Voacanga africana–performed exceptionally on all assays, even in its most dilute form.

                      When Currais and Maher isolated different components of the plant, they found that the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of the plant were mostly due to one molecule, called voacamine. The compound hasn’t yet been tested in animal models but its performance in the assays suggests that it may have pharmaceutical potential for treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or stroke.

                      “There are still a lot of potential sources of drugs in plants that are native to countries around the world and most of them haven’t been tested to any extent,” says Maher. “You can’t test everything, so the best way to approach plant research for drugs is to use the knowledge that’s been around for thousands of years to help you pick and choose what to study with modern techniques. That way you’re not just shooting in the dark.”

                      Maher, Currais and Madureira are planning more follow up studies on voacamaine and also hope to apply their assays to more plants of interest.

                      Other researchers on the study were Chandramouli Chiruta and Marie Goujon-Svrzic of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Gustavo Costa, Tania Santos, Maria Teresa Batista, Jorge Paiva, and Maria do Ceu Madureira of the University of Coimbra (http://www.uc.pt/en).

                      Both the Portuguese and American researchers worked in full partnership with local institutions, traditional healers and communities in order to respectfully conduct research in the area of indigenous knowledge, assuring the intellectual property rights and the sharing of benefits that may arise as a result of the study of these local medicinal plants.

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                      Life Extension
                      Life Extension
                      LIFE EXTENSION The Life Extension Health News team delivers accurate information about vitamins, nutrition and aging. Our stories rely on multiple, authoritative sources and experts. We keep our content accurate and trustworthy, by submitting it to a medical reviewer. Life Extensionists are people who believe in taking advantage of documented scientific therapies to help maintain optimal health and slow aging. The medical literature contains thousands of references on the use of antioxidant vitamins, weight loss supplements, and hormones that have been shown to improve the quality and quantity of life. Life Extensionists attempt to take advantage of this scientific information to enhance their changes of living longer in good health. This article is posted by permission of Life Extension. https://www.lifeextension.com/

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                      This website is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. FoodTrients – A Recipe for Aging Beautifully Grace O, author and creator of FoodTrients® -- a philosophy, a cookbook and a resource -- has a new cookbook dedicated to age-defying and delicious recipes, The Age Beautifully Cookbook: Easy and Exotic Longevity Secrets from Around the World, which provides one hundred-plus recipes that promote health and well-being. The recipes are built on foundations of modern scientific research and ancient knowledge of medicinal herbs and natural ingredients from around the world. Since the publication of her first anti-aging book, The Age GRACEfully Cookbook, Grace O has identified eight categories of FoodTrients benefits (Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, Immune Booster, Disease Prevention, Beauty, Strength, Mind, and Weight Loss) that are essential to fighting aging, which show how specific foods, herbs, and spices in the recipes help keep skin looking younger, prevent the diseases of aging, and increase energy and vitality. Grace O combines more exotic ingredients that add age-fighting benefits to familiar recipe favorites.

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