Red wine checks Alzheimer's

Red wine can prevent Alzheimer's disease

Washington: A compound found in grapes and red wine reduces levels of Alzheimer's disease-causing peptides, a new study has found. According to the study, published in the recent issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the compound lowers the levels of the amyloid-beta peptides which cause the telltale senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease. "Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol occurring in abundance in several plants, including grapes, berries and peanuts. The polyphenol is found in high concentrations in red wines. The highest concentration of resveratrol has been reported in wines prepared from Pinot Noir grapes. Generally, white wines contain 1% to 5% of the resveratrol content present in most red wines," said researcher Philippe Marambaud. One of the characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease is the deposition of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain. The researchers administered resveratrol to cells which produce human amyloid- beta and tested the compound's effectiveness by monitoring amyloid-beta levels inside and outside the cells. They found that levels of amyloid-beta in the treated cells were much lower than those in untreated cells.

The researchers believe the compound acts by stimulating the degradation of amyloid-beta peptides by the proteasome, a barrel- shaped multi-protein complex that can specifically digest proteins into short polypeptides and amino acids. However, eating grapes may not be a cure for Alzheimer's disease. "It is difficult to know whether the anti-amyloidogenic effect of resveratrol observed in cell culture systems can support the beneficial effect of specific diets such as eating grapes. Resveratrol in grapes may never reach the concentrations required to obtain the effect observed in our studies. Grapes and wine however contain more than 600 different components, including well-characterized antioxidant molecules. Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that several compounds work in synergy with small amounts of resveratrol to slow down the progression of the neurodegenerative process in humans," said Marambaud. "Our long-term goal is now to elucidate the exact molecular mechanisms involved in the beneficial properties of resveratrol as a necessary prerequisite to the identification of novel molecular targets and therapeutic approaches," he said.
-Nov 4, 2005