Dopaminergic neuroprotection induced by yerba mate: experimental evidence in hemiparkinsonian animals.

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

Córdoba

Congreso; XXXIV Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia.; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia

Parkinson´s disease (PD) is a progressiveneurodegenerative disorder that affectsthe dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, producing a decrease ofdopamine in the striatum. Currently, although there are n o preventive therapies forPD, a case control study revealed that the consumption of yerba mate (YM) has aninverse association with the risk of devel oping PD. The consumption of YM iswidely popular in our region and it was shown to provide numerous healt h benefits.We propose to characterize the YM extract and evaluate if the consumptio n of YMprovides a benefit on the survival o f dopaminergic neurons . The YM extract wasobtained by "cebada simulada" and its stability was determined by HPLC. Onegroup of mice received water or YM (MATE) for 2 months before being lesionedwith 6 OHDA in t he striatum. Another group received water or YM infusion diluted½ in water (dilMATE) for 4 months before the injury. After lesion, mice continued 1more month with each tr eatment. Immunohistochemical evaluation of tyrosinehydroxylase (TH) indicated that treatment with MATE did not have any effect onthe survival of dop aminergic neurons. On the other hand, the area of remainingTH+ terminals was 12.75 % higher in the MATEdi l group compared to the animalstreated with water. Our results suggest that this ne uroprotective effect could bebeneficial to retard the evolution o f the neurodegenerative process ofdopaminergic neurons in PD patients.