Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have published a study that describes some of the molecular mechanisms by which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a substance from green tea extracts, is an effective treatment for cognitive improvement of people with Down syndrome, as they had previously shown.
The study, carried out by the laboratory led by Mara Dierssen, has been carried out in mouse models that replicate Down syndrome, and has served to identify five protein networks, crucial for cognitive development, that are affected by the chromosome 21 trisomy that characterizes the syndrome.
Thus, the authors observed that a combined treatment with ECGC and an experimental cognitive stimulation therapy, was able to restore 70% of the affected protein networks, which reached healthy physiological levels. In addition, other protein networks were enhanced in what could be a “positive compensatory mechanism that enhances the cascades related to plasticity involved in learning and memory.”
“Thanks to these results, promising combinatorial therapies will boost or prolong current cognitive enhancement for the treatment of intellectual disability”
Mara Dierssen
– Researcher and lead author of the CRG study –
With this, the study makes it possible to advance a step further in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that interfere with neural development in Down syndrome, and consolidates the foundations of future cognitive improvement therapies.
De Toma, I., Ortega, M., Catuara-Solarz, S. et al. Re-establishment of the epigenetic state and rescue of kinome deregulation in Ts65Dn mice upon treatment with green tea extract and environmental enrichment. Sci Rep 10, 16023 (2020)
