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April 15-16, 2019 | Milan, Italy

PUBLIC HEALTH,

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND NUTRITION

World Congress on

CELL AND GENE THERAPY

International Conference on

OF EXCELLENCE

IN INTERNATIONAL

MEETINGS

alliedacademies.com

YEARS

Joint Event on

Cell and Gene Therapy 2019 & Public Health Congress 2019

Archives of General Internal Medicine | ISSN: 2591-7951 | Volume 3

PLANT EXTRACTS AMPLIFY A

PROTEIN CLEARANCE PATHWAY AND

PRESERVE SYNAPTIC INTEGRITY IN

A BRAIN SLICE MODEL OF PROTEIN

ACCUMULATION STRESS

rain aging can slowly lead to synaptic and cellular vulnerabilities, in-

fluencing cognitive function and dementia risks. Removal of old and

altered proteins becomes less efficient with age, causing neuronal stress

as protein clearance systems depreciate. A growing number of studies

point to natural products and a healthy diet to avoid poor cognitive ag-

ing. Here, we examined a group of plant extracts for their effects on a pro-

tein clearance pathway that has been linked to protection against Alzhei-

mer-type cognitive decline. When applied to hippocampal slice cultures

for 3 days, two of the extracts were found to markedly enhance cathep-

sin B (CatB), a key protein clearing enzyme of the autophagy-lysosomal

pathway. American ginseng

(P. quinquefolius)

produced a 4-fold increase

in the 30-kDa active form of CatB (CatB-30). Interestingly, a close corre-

spondence between CatB-30 levels and improved levels of the postsyn-

aptic protein GluR1 was found in brain slices treated with American gin-

seng. Extracts of bacopa

(B. monnieri)

caused similar CatB-30 modulation

in the tissue slices, but in the absence of correlated GluR1 levels. Small

increases in CatB-30 were produced by extracts from Panax ginseng and

wild blueberry

(V. myrtillus)

. When extracts were tested for protection in a

brain slice model of protein accumulation stress, American ginseng was

found to be the most effective. The extract significantly protected synap-

Bahr BA, Arch Gen Intern Med 2019, Volume 3

DOI: 10.4066/2591-7951-C2-025

Bahr BA completed his PhD in 1989 from the Uni-

versity of California–Santa Barbara, USA, helping

to identify a target for the early diagnosis of Alz-

heimer’s disease. He was appointed as the Wil-

liam C Friday Chair and distinguished Professor

at University of North Carolina-Pembroke, USA in

2009. He has over 140 publications with a publi-

cation H-index of 44. He received the North Caro-

lina Governor O Max Gardner Award in 2017.

bahr@uncp.edu

Bahr BA

University of North Carolina, USA

BIOGRAPHY