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

L. TERESITA TRIBBIA; GIMENA GÓMEZ; ANDREA CECILIA CURA; ROY RIVERO; MA ALEJANDRA BERNARDI; JUAN FERRARIO; BERTHA BALDI CORONEL; OSCAR S. GERSHANIK; EMILIA GATTO; IRENE RE. TARAVINI

Congreso; XXXIII Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2018

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