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

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

Congreso; XXXIV Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2019

Parkinson´s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, producing a decrease of dopamine in the striatum. Currently, although there are no preventive therapies for PD, a case-control study revealed that the consumption of yerba mate (YM) has an inverse association with the risk of developing PD. The consumption of YM is widely popular in our region and it was shown to provide numerous health benefits. We propose to characterize the YM extract and evaluate if the consumption of YM provides a benefit on the survival of dopaminergic neurons. The YM extract was obtained by "cebada simulada" and its stability was determined by HPLC. One group of mice received water or YM (MATE) for 2 months before being lesioned with 6-OHDA in the striatum. Another group received water or YM infusion diluted ½ in water (dilMATE) for 4 months before the injury. After lesion, mice continued 1 more month with each treatment. Immunohistochemical evaluation of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) indicated that treatment with MATE did not have any effect on the survival of dopaminergic neurons. On the other hand, the area of remaining TH+ terminals was 12.75 % higher in the MATEdil group compared to the animals treated with water. Our results suggest that this neuroprotective effect could be beneficial to retard the evolution of the neurodegenerative process of dopaminergic neurons in PD patients.