X-Message-Number: 13126 Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 18:02:26 -0800 (PST) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: possible biological stasis with rooibos tea Citations: 1-2 <1> Authors Lamosova D. Jurani M. Greksak M. Nakano M. Vanekova M. Institution Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ivanka pri Dunaji, Slovakia. Title Effect of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) on chick skeletal muscle cell growth in culture. Source Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology. Part C Pharmacology, Toxicology, Endocrinology. 116(1):39-45, 1997 Jan. Abstract Rooibos tea (RT) extract contains natural antioxidants and scavenging agents. We investigated the effects of different concentrations of RT extract in medium on growth and changes of growth parameters of cultured chick embryonic skeletal muscle cells. Presence of 2, 10 and 100% of RT extract in the culture of primary cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation. The inhibition of cell growth reflected on decreased DNA, RNA and protein contents in primary cell culture and fibroblasts and myoblasts. The ability of the primary cells, fibroblasts and myoblasts to synthesize DNA and protein in the presence of RT extract, measured as an amount of [3H]thymidine and [3H]leucine incorporated into DNA and de novo synthesized protein, corresponded with decreasing DNA and protein contents in all three cell types. The inhibition effect of RT rose with increasing concentration of the tea extract in the culture medium. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was significantly affected only by 100% RT extract in every examined cell types. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of RT extract on the growth of primary cells, fibroblasts and myoblasts is due to the potent scavenging activity of the RT extract. <2> Authors Inanami O. Asanuma T. Inukai N. Jin T. Shimokawa S. Kasai N. Nakano M. Sato F. Kuwabara M. Institution Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Japan. Title The suppression of age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in rat brain by administration of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis). Source Neuroscience Letters. 196(1-2):85-8, 1995 Aug 18. Abstract The protective effects of Rooibos tea (RT), Aspalathus linearis, against damage to the central nervous system (CNS) accompanying aging were examined by both the thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in brains of chronically RT-treated rats. Ad libitum administration of RT was begun with 3-month-old Wistar female rats and continued for 21 months. The contents of TBA reactive substances (TBARS) in the frontal cortex, occipital cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in 24-month-old rats after administration with water were significantly higher than those in young rats (5 weeks old). However, no significant increase of TBARS was observed in RT-administered aged rats. When MR images of the brains of 24-month-old rats with and without RT as well as 5-week-old rats were taken, a decrease of the signal intensity was observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in MR images of aged rats without RT, whereas little change of the signal intensity was observed in MR images of the same regions of 24-month-old rats treated with RT, whose images were similar to those of young rats. These observations suggested that (1) the age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in the brain was closely related to the morphological changes observed by MRI, and (2) chronic RT-administration prevented age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in several regions of rat brain. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13126