LOS ANGELES—Alzheimer's researchers at UCLA, in collaboration with Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, have discovered how red wine may reduce the incidence of the disease.
Reporting in the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, David Teplow, a UCLA professor of neurology, and colleagues show how naturally occurring compounds in red wine called polyphenols block the formation of proteins that build the toxic plaques thought to destroy brain cells, and how they reduce the toxicity of existing plaques, thus reducing cognitive deterioration.
Polyphenols are found in high concentrations in wine, tea, nuts, berries, cocoa and various plants. Past research suggests polyphenols may inhibit or prevent the buildup of toxic fibers composed primarily of two proteins—Aß40 and Aß42—that deposit in the brain and form the plaques associated with Alzheimer's. However, no one understood the mechanics of how polyphenols worked until now.
Researchers monitored how Aß40 and Aß42 proteins folded up and stuck to each other to produce aggregates that killed nerve cells in mice. They treated the proteins with a polyphenol compound extracted from grape seeds. They discovered that polyphenols carried a one-two punch: They blocked the formation of the toxic aggregates of Aß and decreased toxicity when combined with Aß before added to brain cells.
