Abstract 135: Complementary-Medicine Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease by Blackcurrant Extract

Background: Every 3.2 s, an individual falls ill with dementia, the number of persons concerned will almost be trebled by 2050, scientists communicated in London at the World Alzheimer Report 2015. They called upon government and employers to invest more in prevention. At present, 46.8 million people live with a demential disease worldwide. From a public health point of view, this high prevalence should motivate to greater efforts regarding prevention and treatment of the vascular component of the disease, because this has the potential to markedly reduce the occurrence of dementia. Methods: Flow-dependent isometric tension was measured in segments of isolated human intracerebral arteries from consciousness areas (brain surgery). Flow variations of the Krebs solution were 3, 5, 20, 40 and 100 mL/min. Krebs without and with addition of either 0.01% membrane filtered blackcurrant extract (BCE, Code 70140015, BerryPharma®) or ethanol extracted BCE was used as superfusate. Biosensor ellipsometry and EIAs were applied. VLDLapoE4/E4 (10 mg/dL) from genotypized patients and human β-amyloid Aβ42 were used in ellipsometry. Results: In controls (n = 14), brain arteries relaxed from 1.416 g (T3) to 1.011 g (T100), i.e. by 28.6% of their initial tone. Under BCE 70140015 (n = 5), vascular tone decreased from 1.390 g to 0.803 g (against control p < 0.0354). This is a 42.2% reduction in tension, a 45.2% increase in flow relaxation, and a 50.7% rise in blood perfusion. Ethanol extracted BCE, however, showed against controls an even slightly impaired relaxation (contraction by 3.6%). - BCE is bound to membrane proteoheparan sulfate (HS-PG), the natural flow sensor and peripheral lipoprotein receptor. Addition of VLDLapoE4/E4, Aβ42, and Ca2+ ions to HS-PG adsorbed to a silica surface led to quaternary Alzheimer plaque formation. Preincubation of HS-PG with BCE reduced VLDL docking by 5.9%, ternary plaques with Aβ42 by 11.6%, and quaternary calcified Alzheimer nanoplaques by 17.3%. Conclusion: The flow experiments show that membrane filtered BCE clearly improved endothelial function by an additional NO release, while ethanol extracted did not. This vasodilatation together with the reduction of Alzheimer nanoplaques may have a beneficial effect on cognitive functions in dementiae of the Alzheimer type, in prevention of TIA and stroke. ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif