Green Tea-EGCG reduces GFAP associated neuronal loss in HIV-1 Tat transgenic mice.
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: In the current era of antiretroviral treatment, the prevalence of HIV-associated dementia is on the rise. Many past works have associated inflammation and neuronal loss with cognitive deficits inherent to the syndrome. Importantly, HIV-1 induced astrogliosis has been shown to play a central role in this process. Here we examined the effect of green tea derived (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) food supplementation for its ability to modulate GFAP expression and neuronal loss in an HIV-1 Tat transgenic mouse model whose expression was controlled by a brain specific doxycycline promoter. By immunohistochemistry we found that EGCG (300mg/kg/day) dramatically reduced astrogliosis as demonstrated by GFAP expression. This was accompanied by a mild reduction in activated microglia by Iba-1 staining and significant reduction in neuronal loss through apoptosis as demonstrated by MAP2 staining and Western blot analysis respectively. Future studies will be required to determine intracellular mechanism involved in EGCG mediated downregulation of GFAP and associated astrocytosis and neuronal loss.
Source: PubMed Central
Authors: Elona Rrapo, Yuyan Zhu, Jun Tian, Huayan Hou, Adam Smith, Francisco Fernandez, Jun Tan, Brian Giunta
Language: English
Topic: Tea Polyphenols and Effects
Subfield: Pathology and Forensic Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W96904577