rooibos tea suppresses brain aging

From: Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Sun Sep 20 1998 - 01:32:03 MDT


Authors
  Inanami O. Asanuma T. Inukai N. Jin T. Shimokawa S. Kasai N. Nakano M.
  Sato F. Kuwabara M.
Institution
  Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Japan.
Title
  The suppression of age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in rat brain
  by administration of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis).
Source
  Neuroscience Letters. 196(1-2):85-8, 1995 Aug 18.
Abstract
  The protective effects of Rooibos tea (RT), Aspalathus
  linearis, against damage to the central nervous system (CNS) accompanying
  aging were examined by both the thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBA) and
  magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in brains of chronically RT-treated
  rats. Ad libitum administration of RT was begun with 3-month-old Wistar
  female rats and continued for 21 months. The contents of TBA reactive
  substances (TBARS) in the frontal cortex, occipital cortex, hippocampus and
  cerebellum in 24-month-old rats after administration with water were
  significantly higher than those in young rats (5 weeks old). However, no
  significant increase of TBARS was observed in RT-administered aged rats. When
  MR images of the brains of 24-month-old rats with and without RT as well as
  5-week-old rats were taken, a decrease of the signal intensity was observed
  in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in MR images of aged rats
  without RT, whereas little change of the signal intensity was observed in MR
  images of the same regions of 24-month-old rats treated with RT, whose images
  were similar to those of young rats. These observations suggested that (1)
  the age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in the brain was closely
  related to the morphological changes observed by MRI, and (2) chronic
  RT-administration prevented age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in
  several regions of rat brain.



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