Background and Purpose-We sought to determine the cerebroprotective potential of NAP, a synthetic octapeptide related to vasoactive intestinal peptide. Activity-dependent neuroprotective protein mediates some of the protective effects of vasoactive intestinal peptide. The neuroprotective NAP sequence is derived from activity-dependent neuroprotective protein. Methods-Spontaneously hypertensive rats underwent permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion by craniotomy and electrocoagulation. After dose-response and time-course experiments, the animals were injected with NAP (3 g/kg) or vehicle intravenously 1 hour after stroke onset. Another group of rats was injected with the D-amino acid isomer of NAP (D-NAP) and served as a negative control. Rats were examined for motor and behavioral deficits 24 hours to 30 days later, and infarct volumes were determined.

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Flavanols of Camellia sinensis exhibit uric acid (UA) lowering effect, through the modulation of both xanthine oxidase and urate excretion. In order to investigate the potential benefit of Camellia Sinenis products in asymptomatic hyperuricemia, a meta-analysis of long-term Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) with tea or tea extract has been conducted. From 20 human intervention studies selected only 5 RCT (13 interventions) were suitable for meta-analysis (n = 472). The current "normal" range set for hyperuricemia fails to identify patients with potential metabolic disorders. Therefore on the basis of the literature data, we fixed cut-off limits for UA baseline levels of 4.5 mg/dl for women, 6.1 mg/dl for men, and 5.5 mg/dl for studies involving mixed populations. Statistically significant effects were not found, but subgroup analysis revealed that the Pooled Estimate effect was different in subjects with baseline levels under [MD (95% CI): 0.1078 (-0.0528 to 0.2684)] and over the cut-off [MD (95% CI): -0.0239 (0.3311 to 0.2833)]. However, due to the low number of RCT and to the lack of data on bioavailability, it is difficult to draw any firm conclusion and more studies are needed to establish if tea flavanols could be useful in asymptomatic hyperuricemia treatment.

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