(January 6th, 2012) The current treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases have still much room for improvement. Why not try to combine Eastern and Western medicine to tackle the problem? German researchers did just that.
Apparently, an old Chinese proverb says that drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary. With the typical arrogance of western medicine, we often tend to wave off such proverbs as nebulous mysticisms of eastern traditional medicine. But many a time, we forget that for ages traditional forms of medicine have been providing humankind in many eastern civilisations with prophylactic care rather than the symptomatic therapeutic interventions common in the West. However, the fact remains that, with the unavailability of western medicine until late in the eastern world, people there have been relying on herbal medicine to both prevent and cure numerous diseases. Albeit with the intermixing of cultures and civilisations in the modern ages, western interest has grown in traditional herbal medicine systems of the east. One such 'wonder herb' is tea.
The Internet is awash with the potential health benefits of tea. Camellia sinensis has been providing us with its leaves, since at least 10th century BC, to enjoy the drink we call tea. Prevalent in the east and south of Asia, tea reportedly contains various compounds like catechins, tannins and polyphenols, all of which are allegedly beneficial for our health. Thus, certain herbal infusions have been claimed to be beneficial for not just atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, liver disease, inducing weight loss, lowering cholesterol but in neurodegenerative diseases as well.
Now, a group of collaborating researchers from all over Germany have demonstrated a novel therapeutic strategy combining photomedicine and what could be best described as herbal medicine (namely green tea polyphenol by the name of epigallocatechin gallate, or ECGC). The authors of the paper had previously shown that ECGC prevents the formation of the Aβ fibrillary deposits that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, ECGC converted Aβ fibrils into non-toxic compounds and thus, reduced the amount of deposits. They had also demonstrated that irradiation with 670 nm laser light, whose various therapeutic effects are well-documented, forced the subjected cells to an augmented take up of ECGC.
In the current paper, Andrei Sommer from the University of Ulm and his colleagues combined the two therapeutic prongs to tackle the beast that is Aβ42 deposits. In vitro, human neuroblastoma cells were incubated with fluorescently-labelled synthetic Aβ fibrils, for them to take up these nasty 'trojans'. In subsequent steps, various cell groups were treated with differing doses of ECGC only or with ECGC and moderately intensive near-red laser irradiation.
The scientists found that both therapies reduced the deposition of Aβ aggregates, independent of each other. However, together, they reduced such deposits in a dose-dependent manner by up to 50%, which is more than their individual effects. Involving a process called trans-membrane convection, that modified the density and viscosity of the incredibly small surface water layers present on interfaces of cell organelles, the near-red laser irradiation resulted in a far greater take up of ECGC by the cells from their surroundings.
A side effect, though, of laser photo treatment is an increase in cell proliferation. This effect was more pronounced in healthy cells than in the cells subjected to Aβ stress. But, surprisingly, ECGC lowered such induced cell proliferation in healthy cells; in the burdened cells subjected to the dual treatment, cell proliferation was absent altogether.
There is a lot of speculation in the paper about the mechanism involved in the light-induced increase in cell proliferation and why this is not seen on simultaneous application of EGCG to the burdened cells. Although the scientists tried to provide an explanation, there remained more loose ends than expected. However, in spite of lacking every mechanistic nitty-gritty, the results demonstrate a novel therapeutic approach that employs simultaneous application of complementary methods of treatment that in the end is more effective.
Well, should this approach make it to the level of being effective in humans, we would end up with a perfect synergy of eastern and western civilisations for tackling one of the nastiest diseases today, which is a threat to us all. Let’s hope it works out!
And perhaps we should bear in mind George Orwell’s rule of thumb on “A nice cup of tea”.
Arnab Chakrabarty
Picture: Fotolia/PChStudios