A study published in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Experimental Neurology tested the effects of blueberry to lessen the consequences of stroke. Researchers fed three groups of rats chow that was enriched with either blueberries, spirulina, spinach. A fourth group was fed unenriched food. After four weeks an ischemic stroke with reperfusion was introduced to the rats. In the blueberry fed rats the size of the area of the brain damaged by the stroke was half that of the control group (Wang Y, Chang CF, Chou J, Chen HL, Deng X, Harvey BK, Cadet JL, Bickford PC. Dietary supplementation with blueberries, spinach, or spirulina reduces ischemic brain damage. Exp Neurol. 2005 May;193(1):75-84).

Clinical Abstracts

Dietary supplementation with blueberries, spinach, or spirulina reduces ischemic brain damage.

Exp Neurol. 2005 May;193(1):75-84

Wang Y, Chang CF, Chou J, Chen HL, Deng X, Harvey BK, Cadet JL, Bickford PC.

National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.

Free radicals are involved in neurodegenerative disorders, such as ischemia and aging. We have previously demonstrated that treatment with diets enriched with blueberry, spinach, or spirulina have been shown to reduce neurodegenerative changes in aged animals. The purpose of this study was to determine if these diets have neuroprotective effects in focal ischemic brain. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with equal amounts of diets (blueberry, spinach, and spirulina) or with control diet. After 4 weeks of feeding, all animals were anesthetized with chloral hydrate. The right middle cerebral artery was ligated with a 10-O suture for 60 min. The ligature was later removed to allow reperfusional injury. Animals were sacrificed and brains were removed for caspase-3 enzymatic assays and triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining at 8 and 48 h after the onset of reperfusion. A subgroup of animals was used for locomotor behavior and biochemical assays. We found that animals which received blueberry, spinach, or spirulina enriched diets had a significant reduction in the volume of infarction in the cerebral cortex and an increase in post-stroke locomotor activity. There was no difference in blood biochemistry, blood CO2, and electrolyte levels among all groups, suggesting that the protection was not indirectly mediated through the changes in physiological functions. Animals treated with blueberry, spinach, or spirulina had significantly lower caspase-3 activity in the ischemic hemisphere. In conclusion, our data suggest that chronic treatment with blueberry, spinach, or spirulina reduces ischemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis and cerebral infarction.

PMID: 15817266 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Blueberry- and spirulina-enriched diets enhance striatal dopamine recovery and induce a rapid, transient microglia activation after injury of the rat nigrostriatal dopamine system.

Exp Neurol. 2005 Dec;196(2):298-307. Epub 2005 Sep 19

Stromberg I, Gemma C, Vila J, Bickford PC.

Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Umea University, S 901 87 Umea, Sweden. ingrid.stromberg@histocel.umu.se

Neuroinflammation plays a critical role in loss of dopamine neurons during brain injury and in neurodegenerative diseases. Diets enriched in foods with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions may modulate this neuroinflammation. The model of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) injected into the dorsal striatum of normal rats, causes a progressive loss of dopamine neurons in the ventral mesencephalon. In this study, we have investigated the inflammatory response following 6-OHDA injected into the striatum of adult rats treated with diet enriched in blueberry or spirulina. One week after the dopamine lesion, a similar size of dopamine degeneration was found in the striatum and in the globus pallidus in all lesioned animals. At 1 week, a significant increase in OX-6- (MHC class II) positive microglia was found in animals fed with blueberry- and spirulina-enriched diets in both the striatum and the globus pallidus. These OX-6-positive cells were located within the area of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) -negativity. At 1 month after the lesion, the number of OX-6-positive cells was reduced in diet-treated animals while a significant increase beyond that observed at 1 week was now present in lesioned control animals. Dopamine recovery as revealed by TH-immunohistochemistry was significantly enhanced at 4 weeks postlesion in the striatum while in the globus pallidus the density of TH-positive nerve fibers was not different from control-fed lesioned animals. In conclusion, enhanced striatal dopamine recovery appeared in animals treated with diet enriched in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals and coincided with an early, transient increase in OX-6-positive microglia.

PMID: 16176814 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]