Regresar

Neuroprotection with ilex Guayusa extract in chemical hypoxia-induced glial cells

Abstract:

Each year more than 15 million people suffer a stroke, around 6 million deaths, and the rest can have some type of temporary or permanent disability. Despite the advance of the stoke neuropharmacology, the bioactive principles obtained from plants are still used as traditional medicine or as prototypes to design new drugs for treatment of this pathology. The objective of this work was to evaluate the neurorestorativecapacity of an extract of Ilex Guayusa in glial cells submitted to a chemical hypoxia. The expression of the hypoxia-inducing factor as a hypoxia biomarker was determined and quantified by means of fluorescence microscopy. The results obtained showed that cobalt chloride was able to induce hypoxia in the cellular model used, and that this signaling was significantly reduced by the treatment with Ilex Guayusa extract. This neuroprotective finding would be supported by the presence in the extract of compounds with antioxidant capacity that induces the synthesis of reduced glutathione and antagonists of A2A adenosine receptors. It is suggested that a moderate intake of Ilex Guayusa leaf tea in the long term could prevent stroke or improve its recovery. Also, the consumption of this extract can be an economic and effective method to combine it with other therapeutic strategies of stroke.