Green Tea Catechins Attenuate Neurodegenerative Diseases and Cognitive Deficits

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases exert an overwhelming socioeconomic burden all around the globe. They are mainly characterized by modified protein accumulation that might trigger various biological responses, including oxidative stress, inflammation, regulation of signaling pathways, and excitotoxicity. These disorders have been widely studied during the last decade in the hopes of developing symptom-oriented therapeutics. However, no definitive cure has yet been discovered. Tea is one of the world’s most popular beverages. The same plant, Camellia Sinensis (L.).O. Kuntze, is used to make green, black, and oolong teas. Green tea has been most thoroughly studied because of its anti-cancer, anti-obesity, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. The beneficial effect of consumption of tea on neurodegenerative disorders has been reported in several human interventional and observational studies. The polyphenolic compounds found in green tea, known as catechins, have been demonstrated to have many therapeutic effects. They can help in preventing and, somehow, treating neurodegenerative diseases. Catechins show anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant effects via blocking cytokines’ excessive production and inflammatory pathways, as well as chelating metal ions and free radical scavenging. They may inhibit tau protein phosphorylation, amyloid beta aggregation, and release of apoptotic proteins. They can also lower alpha-synuclein levels and boost dopamine levels. All these factors have the potential to affect neurodegenerative disorders. This review will examine catechins’ neuroprotective effects by highlighting their biological, pharmacological, antioxidant, and metal chelation abilities, with a focus on their ability to activate diverse cellular pathways in the brain. This review also points out the mechanisms of catechins in various neurodegenerative and cognitive diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and cognitive deficit.

Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidant Therapeutics for Traumatic Brain Injury

“…It activates Nrf2, and it is known for its antioxidant and health-promoting properties [ 191 ]. Research suggests that ECCG may help protect neurons from oxidative damage and improve cognitive function [ 192 ]. Quercetin, found in fruits and vegetables, is an Nrf2 pathway activator that reduces inflammation and improves antioxidant defense mechanisms.…”

Novel Flavonol Alkaloids in Green Tea: Synthesis, Detection, and Anti-Alzheimer’s Disease Effect in a Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans CL4176 Model

“…For years, tea has been increasingly popular due to its unique flavor and diversified health efficacy . Green tea is one of the six major teas made from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, conferring polyphenols with potential therapeutic effects on ND . Flavonoids, a subclass of polyphenols with multiple beneficial biological effects, are classified into flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavavones, anthocyanins, and flavanols .…”

“…6 Green tea is one of the six major teas made from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis, conferring polyphenols with potential therapeutic effects on ND. 7 Flavonoids, a subclass of polyphenols with multiple beneficial biological effects, 8 are classified into flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavavones, anthocyanins, and flavanols. 9 Myricetin, quercetin, and kaempferol are naturally occurring flavonols widely present in tea, fruits, vegetables, and other natural foods and can inhibit protein aggregates related to AD.…”

Identification of Catechins’ Binding Sites in Monomeric Aβ42 through Ensemble Docking and MD Simulations

“…Several studies have revealed that a large number of natural compounds derived from plants, animals and 2 of 20 microorganisms have the potential to inhibit oligomerization [11,12,[18][19][20]. For example, several computational and experimental observations have shown that polyphenolic plant compounds which occur naturally in fruit, vegetables, chocolate, and tea are capable of inhibiting IDP aggregation [12,13,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

“…In this work, a computational pipeline in the framework of the ensemble docking strategy has been proposed to identify catechins' binding sites on the full-length human amyloid-β (Aβ 42 ) monomer which is involved in Alzheimer's disease [2,5,11,12,27,39,41,43]. Catechins (or flavan-3-ols) are dietary polyphenolic compounds commonly found in green tea and their inhibitory effects on Aβ aggregation have been the subject of numerous experimental and computational investigations [21,28,36,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94]. There is experimental evidence indicating that the catechins are able to disturb Aβ aggregation and change the aggregation process toward the formation of non-toxic oligomers [28,37,77,78,80,81,85,86].…”