The neuroprotective effect is the process that preserves the neuronal structure and/or function, In other words, it is the action that protects the integrity and viability of the neurons against pathogens associated with the loss and death of neurons in the brain.
Neurodegenerative diseases are a class of diseases that involve the loss of neurons over time, leading to multiple neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, affecting mostly in the older adults over the age of 50.
According to the statistics provided by the Harvard Neurodicover Center, as of today, 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease; 1 million from Parkinson's; 400,000 from multiple sclerosis (MS); 30,000 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), and 30,000 from Huntington's disease.
Believe it or not, by 2030, 1 in 5 people living in the US are over the age of 65.
Neurological disorders are a class of diseases associated with reduced function of the brain, particularly in the autonomic nervous systems.
There is no single cause of the neurological disorder. Certain risk factors such as unhealthy lifestyle with physical inactivity, infections, genetic preposition, and physical injury have been found in patients with the condition.
Most common symptoms of the neurological disorder include muscle weakness, loss of sensation reduced reading and writing skill, poor cognitive abilities and decreased alertness, depending on the location of the neurons that have been affected
In severe cases, patients with a neurological disorder may experience symptoms of depression and anxiety and partial or complete paralysis.
Out of many aforementioned factors associated with neurological disorders, some researchers suggested the increase in age may be one of the major risks that affect millions of older Americans.
Dr. Khan ZU, the lead scientist wrote, "Memory is central to our ability to perform daily life activities and correctly function in society. Improvements in public health and medical treatment for a variety of diseases have resulted in longer life spans; however, age-related memory impairments have been significant sources of morbidity".
And, "Loss in memory function is not only associated with the aging population but is also a feature of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and other psychiatric and neurological disorders".
The cucumber plant is a species of Cucumis Sativus, belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and native to Western Asia. It is a creeping vine with roots in the ground and grows up with the support of frames.
In the urgency to find a potential compound with neuroprotective activity, researchers in the science team at the Benha University compared the protective effect of Cucumis melo var. flexuosus (C. Melo var. flexuosus) leaf extract on the brains of diabetic rats.
The study included adult male albino rats divided into 5 groups of 6 rats each was assigned into a normal control group and four diabetic groups with diabetes induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ; 60 mg/kg bw).
On diabetic rats, one group was left untreated and was considered as a diabetic control group while the three other groups were treated with C. Melo var. flexuosus leaf extract at the doses of 30, 60 and 120 mg/kg bw for a period of 30 days.
Based on the results of the tested assays, C. Melo var. flexuosus leaf extract group not only showed a significant effect on lowering blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin but also protect the neuron against the facilitation of brain tumor necrosis factor-alpha and production of proinflammatory cytokines.
Furthermore, the brain malondialdehyde content associated with the stress marker and caspase-3 activity associated with neuroapoptosis were also reduced significantly by the injection of C. Melo var. flexuosus leaf extract.
Additional differentiation of the effect of C. Melo var. flexuosus leaf extract group, researchers found that the leaf extract protected the brain cells by markedly increasing the levels of plasma dopamine, melatonin, brain vascular endothelial growth factor-A associated with the formation of blood vessels., brain antioxidants.
In other words, cucumber leaf extract exerted neuroprotective activity by enhancing the levels of antioxidants against oxidative damage in tested diabetics.
In order to reveal more information about cucumber brain-protective effects, researchers examined the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of Cucurbitacins (CuB) on TLR 2/4 agonists (amyloid-β, LTA, and LPS)-induced neuroinflammatory response in microglia.
According to the tested results, in TLR 2/4 agonists-stimulated microglia, pretreatment with Cucurbitacins significantly reduced the pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) and enzymes involved in angiogenesis and neural development (iNOS) in affected neurons and stimulation of inflammation (COX-2).
Futhermore, Cucurbitacins protected the brain cell damage by inhibiting the protein associated with the stress response in the induction of neurons apoptosis and autophagy and in the facilitation of cytokine production.
In other words, Cucurbitacins protected the integrity of the neurons against TLR 2/4 agonists-stimulated microglia involved in oxidative stress-induced cell death and phase II detoxification enzymes activity.
Based on the findings, Dr.Park SY, the lead scientist said, "Cucurbitacins is a potent activator of the Nrf2/ARE pathway and is therapeutically relevant not only to neuroinflammatory responses of microglia but also neuroinflammation mediated neuronal injury".
Taken altogether, cucumber leaf extracts and bioactive compound Cucurbitacins may process a neuroprotective effect, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.
Intake of CuB in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.
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Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
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Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
Sources
(1) Neuroprotective effect of Cucumis melo Var. flexuosus leaf extract on the brains of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes by Ibrahim DS. (PubMed)
(2) Cucurbitacins attenuate microglial activation and protect from neuroinflammatory injury through Nrf2/ARE activation and STAT/NF-κB inhibition by Park SY1, Kim YH1, Park G2. (PubMed)
(3) Memory deficits in aging and neurological diseases by Khan ZU1, Martín-Montañez E2, Navarro-Lobato I1, Muly EC. (PubMed)
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