Sunday, December 13, 2015

Plant compound found in spices and herbs increases brain connections

Do not do anything with this. You know how dangerous it is to eat foods not prescribed by your doctor. You'll have to wait 50 years before a stroke diet protocol is created. Maybe your  grandchildren will benefit after their stroke. But only if you pay it forward by repurposing the existing stroke associations to actually be for survivors.

The readable article here:

Plant compound found in spices and herbs increases brain connections 

Parsley, celery and chamomile tea are the most common sources of apigenin

 

The research it is based upon here:

 

Commitment of human pluripotent stem cells to a neural lineage is induced by the pro-estrogenic flavonoid apigenin


Cleide S. Souza1†, Bruna S. Paulsen1†, Sylvie Devalle1, Silvia Lima Costa2, Helena L. Borges1 and Stevens K. Rehen1,3*

1Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 2Institute of Health Sciences, Federal University of Bahia, Bahia, Brazil; 3D’Or Institute of Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds that are ubiquitous in plants and have biological effects on cancer cells and other cell types. In particular, apigenin (API) has been shown to bind to estrogen receptors, which affect the development, maturation, function, and plasticity of the nervous system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 4′,5,7-trihydroxyflavone (API) upon the neural differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. Treatment of both human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells with API increased the number of nestin (NES+) neural progenitor cells compared to untreated controls. API also induced the expression of neuronal markers, such as β-tubulin-III (TUBB3), microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), polysialylated-neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM), synapsin 1 (SYN1), neurofilament (NEF), choline acetyltransferase (CHAT), glutamate decarboxylase (GAD1), and parvalbumin (PVALB) proteins. Antagonists of estrogen receptors (ESR1 and ESR2) suppressed the effects of API. API-induced differentiation was followed by increased expression of retinoic acid (RA) receptors (RARA and RARB) and retinoic X receptor (RXR) G, but not RARG1 or RXRB. Neural differentiation induced by API was drastically reduced by the inhibition of RARs. In addition, API also increased synaptogenesis in RA-differentiated neurons. These findings suggest that API induces neural differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells through estrogen receptor and RAR signaling and improves their functional differentiation into neurons.
Keywords: apigenin; neural induction; estrogen receptors; retinoic acid receptors; synapses
In context
Human embryonic stem cells can give rise to any cell type of the human body. One of the main challenges in regenerative biology is to drive these cells to become specific cells types, preferentially by adopting simple and less expensive approaches. Here we show that, by simply adding a plant compound called apigenin to human pluripotent stem cells, they become neurons after a few days. We also observed that neurons could make more sophisticated connections among themselves after treatment with this natural compound. This observation suggests that flavonoids derived from plants can be used as a tool for the production of neurons in a dish. Moreover, since flavonoids are present at high amounts in some foods, we can speculate that a diet rich in flavonoids may influence the formation of neurons and the way they communicate within the brain.
Citation: Advances in Regenerative Biology 2015, 2: 29244 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/arb.v2.29244
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