ENVEJECIMIENTO CEREBRAL - Efecto de los berries

Findings reviewed above suggest that oxidative stress and inflammation may be the major sources contributing to neuronal and behavioral deficits observed in the aging process and age-related neurodegenerative diseases [14,16, 68, 165–168].
A growing interest in dietary antioxidants has been heightened by the revelation that the plethora of natural antioxidants found in plant food matrices, such as fruits and vegetables, possess neuroprotective, cardioprotective, and chemoprotective properties [138,169–171].
In this regard, berryfruit may be especially potent in free radical quenching activity as assessed via the water-soluble ORAC index [132, 172, 173]. More importantly, it appears that berryfruit such as blueberries may also exert their antioxidant/anti-inflammatory effects by directly altering the oxidative and heat
stress signaling pathways. Additionally, blueberries have been shown to increase the expression of MAP kinases [144], as well as neuronal signaling associated with learning and memory, that result in increases in neurogenesis, accompanied by increases in the levels of ERK and IGF-1 expression [10]. These alterations, coupled with increases in downstream mediators such as cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), might be mechanistically involved in the enhanced cognitive and motor behavioral performance in berryfruit-supplemented animals in senescence. Importantly, results from C. elegans indicate that [6], in addition to their antioxidant activities, blueberries may increase mean life span by increasing thermotolerance by regulation of osmotic stress. Thus, nutritional interventions with high antioxidant fruits such as berryfruits may prove to be a valuable asset in strengthening the brain against the ravages of time and retard or prevent the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Fuente: FRANCIS C. LAU, BARBARA SHUKITT-HALE AND JAMES A. JOSEPH, "NUTRITIONAL INTERVENTION IN BRAIN AGING - Reducing the effects of inflammation and oxidative stress, Subcellular Biochemistry, 1, Volume 42, Inflammation in the Pathogenesis of Chronic Diseases, Section VI, Pages 299-318