Grape Seed Component Fights Alzheimers

NEW YORKResearchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered how polyphenols in grape seeds may help prevent the development or delay the progression of Alzheimers disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers collaborated with a team at the University of Minnesota to evaluate the ability of grape-derived polyphenols to prevent the generation of a specific form of -amyloid (A) peptide, a substance in the brain long known to cause the neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer disease. They administered grape seed polyphenolic extracts to mice genetically determined to develop memory deficits and A neurotoxins similar to those found in Alzheimers disease. They found that the brain content of the A*56, a specific form of A previously implicated in the promotion of Alzheimers disease memory loss, was substantially reduced after treatment.

Previous studies suggest increased consumption of grape-derived polyphenols, whose content, for example, is very high in red wine, may protect against cognitive decline in Alzheimers. This new finding, showing a selective decrease in the neurotoxin A*56 following grape-derived polyphenols treatment, corroborates those theories.

Since naturally occurring polyphenols are also generally commercially available as nutritional supplements and have negligible adverse events even after prolonged periods of treatment, this new finding holds significant promise as a preventive method or treatment, and is being tested in translational studies in Alzheimers disease patients," they said.

They noted in order for grape-derived polyphenols to be effective, scientists must identify a biomarker of disease that would pinpoint who is at high risk to develop Alzheimers disease.

It will be critical to identify subjects who are at high risk of developing Alzheimers disease, so that we can initiate treatments very early and possibly even in asymptomatic patients," the said. However, for Alzheimers disease patients who have already progressed into the initial stages of the disease, early intervention with this treatment might be beneficial as well. Our study implicating that these neurotoxins such as A*56 in the brain are targeted by grape-derived polyphenols holds significant promise."