Effects of Green Tea Polyphenols and Oxidative Stress on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that starts with mild memory loss and aggravates the loss of speech, facial expressions, and many everyday activities. Similarly, Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes various movement disorders by tightening muscles and making them rigid. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are the most common neurodegenerative diseases among older adults and the number of cases is rapidly increasing. Although many factors leading to these diseases are not discovered, many studies found ROS production-induced oxidative stress leads to oxidation and modification of various cellular structures and subsequently cell death and neuronal degeneration. Polyphenol compounds are micronutrients that are featured by many plant-based foods and renowned for their antioxidant capacities, which play an impactful role in the inhibition of arachidonic acid metabolizing enzymes and regulation of mitochondrial dysfunction. Especially green tea polyphenols, which are rich in (-)-epigallocatechin- 3-gallate (EGCG), scavenge radicals, chelate metal ions, inhibit the nuclear translocation of NF-кB, and thus reduce oxidative stress and prevent many factors that lie behind Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.