Yerba mate tea and Parkinson's disease. Neuroprotective effect on dopaminergic neurons in an animal model

TRIBBIA LT.; GOMEZ G.; CURA AC.; RIVERO RC.; BERNARDI MA.; FERRARIO JE.; BALDI CORONEL B.; GERSHANIK OS.; GATTO EM.; TARAVINI IRE.

Cordoba

Congreso; XXXIII Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia.; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia.

Parkinson´s disease (PD) is the second neurodegenerative disease with a wide range of prevalenceworldwide. The neurodegenerative process primarily affects the dopaminergic neurons of thesubstantia nigra. Since the mechanisms that underlie this neuronal degeneration have not beenfully clarified, currently there is no preventive therapy for PD. However, a case-control study inArgentina revealed that consumption of yerba mate (YM) has an inverse association with the riskof developing PD. YM consumption is widely popular in the countries of the Río de la Plata. It hasbeen shown to provide numerous health benefits, strongly related to its variety of bioactivephytochemicals. We propose to characterize the extract of YM and to evaluate if the consumptionof YM provides a benefit on the survival of dopaminergic neurons in a mouse model of PD. Theextract of YM was obtained by ?cebada simulada? and the concentrations of the main bioactivecomponents were quantified by HPLC. Wild type mice received water or ?mate? as their onlysource of fluid for 4 months before receiving an intrastriatal injection of 6-OHDA, and continue 1month with treatment. It was found that mice treated with YM have a density of dopaminergicremaining fibers in the striatum 12% higher than the control mice. Our results suggest that thisneuroprotective effect could be beneficial to slow the evolution of the neurodegenerative processexperienced by dopaminergic neurons in people suffering PD.