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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #139921
Title: DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH BLUEBERRY EXTRACTS IMPROVES THE SURVIVAL AND FUNCTION OF GRAFTED EMBRYONIC DOPAMINE NEURONS IN RATS

Author
item MCGUIRE, S - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item Shukitt-Hale, Barbara
item Joseph, James
item SORTWELL, C - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item FLEMING, M - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item MARCHIONINI, D - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item KANAAN, N - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item DALEY, B - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR
item COLLIER, T - RUSH - ST. LUKES MED CTR

Submitted to: Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/2002
Publication Date: 11/2/2002
Citation: Mcguire, S.O., Shukitt Hale, B., Joseph, J.A., Sortwell, C.E., Fleming, M.F., Marchionini, D.M., Kanaan, N.M., Daley, B., Collier, T.J. 2002. Dietary supplementation with blueberry extracts improves the survival and function of grafted embryonic dopamine neurons in rats. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Transplantation of embryonic dopamine (DA) neurons into the striatum is a viable treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, transplanted cells survive poorly. This study provides evidence that dietary supplementation with blueberry extract (BBE) provides an efficacious, easily administered and well tolerated therapy that can be used to treat the transplant recipient. Young adult rats were unilaterally lesioned with 6-OHDA and allowed to recover for 2 months. Animals with stable amphetamine-induced rotational values were assigned to one of two dietary treatments that consisted of custom formulated rat chow +/- BBE. After six weeks of dietary treatment, sub-optimal numbers of primary embryonic midbrain neurons were transplanted into the denervated striatum. At two weeks post-transplant, rats were assessed for amphetamine-induced rotational behavior. BBE-fed rats exhibited fewer rotations per minute than did control-fed rats (P<0.05). Morphological analysis revealed that at two weeks post-grafting, there was an approximately two-fold increase in DA neuron survival within the graft, although this increase did not reach significance (P=0.054). BBE-fed animals also tended to have increased graft perimeters (P=0.1) and increased tyrosine hydroxylase intensity (P=0.1). These data provide proof of principle that dietary supplementation of the host with bioactive compounds such as BBE can have a beneficial effect on neural graft survival.