Molecule in Green Tea Blocks Formation of Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimers
A new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea was found by researchers at the University of Michigan: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain, leading to plaque, that are associated with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
U-M Life Sciences Institute faculty member Mi Hee Lim and an interdisciplinary team of researchers reported that they used green tea extract to control the generation of metal-associated amyloid-β plaque, or aggregates, associated with Alzheimer's disease in the lab.
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.
"A lot of people are very excited about this molecule," said Lim, saying that the EGCG and other flavonoids in natural products have long been established as powerful antioxidants. "We used a multidisciplinary approach. This is the first example of structure-centric, multidisciplinary investigations by three principal investigators with three different areas of expertise."
While many researchers are investigating small molecules and metal-associated amyloids, most are looking from just one perspective, said Lim, assistant professor of chemistry and research assistant professor at the Life Sciences Institute.
"But we believe you have to have a lot of approaches working together, because the brain is very complex," she said. Her team's next step is to "tweak" the molecule and then test its ability to interfere with plaque formation in fruit flies.
Paper:
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
Join the Conversation