image: Normal mice (left) shred a pressed cotton square and arrange the material to build a nest. Nesting behavior is impaired (center) following injection of alpha-synuclein fibrils into the striatum (the part of the brain where dopamine producing neurons project to), but this behavior is preserved in fibrilinjected mice co-treated with EHT and caffeine (right). view more
Credit: Image courtesy of M. Maral Mouradian
A study of mouse models of Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies finds that the coffee component eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide acts synergistically with caffeine, which was previously thought to be the neuroprotective component of coffee, to maintain the enzyme PP2A in an active state so that the enzyme can dephosphorylate pathogenic hyperphosphorylated α-synuclein proteins, implicated in PD; the two compounds may together prevent neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation and protect brain cells, according to the authors.
Article #18-13365: "Synergistic neuroprotection by coffee components eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide and caffeine in models of Parkinson's disease and DLB," by Run Yan et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: M. Maral Mouradian, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ; tel: 732-235-4772; e-mail: m.mouradian@rutgers.edu
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences