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Green Tea Extract Fights Cell Death Due to Oxygen
Deprivation Background:
When the
body’s cells are
deprived of oxygen (a condition called hypoxia), they're in trouble. Without enough oxygen cells die
resulting in damage to tissues and organs. A heart attack is an example
of hypoxia. When a coronary artery becomes blocked, it can’t deliver
sufficient oxygen to the specific area of the heart muscle that it serves. As a
result, that area of the heart “dies.”
But what
if there were a substance that could protect cells that were deprived of
oxygen, possibly even preventing their death? It looks like green tea
may be able to do just that!
Study description:
In this study, researchers investigated the power of green tea extract
to prevent cell death (apoptosis) due to a lack of oxygen.
Type of study: "Test-tube"
Study methods: For a control group, the
researchers used cells from a human liver tumor, which they then
deprived of oxygen. About 40% of the cells died. For the test group,
they exposed similar cells to varying concentrations of green tea
extract EGCg (125, 25, 50 and 100 micromoles of EGCg)
and then deprived them of oxygen, as before.
What happened:
The cells that had been exposed to 12.5 micromoles of EGCg
showed a 10 percent reduction in cell death, compared to the control
group. But the cells that had been exposed to 100 micromoles of EGCG
were all still alive at the end of the experiment.
Researcher's conclusion:
Epigallocatechin gallate reduces "hypoxia-induced apoptosis in human
hepatoma cells."
Citation:
Park HJ, Shin DH Chung
WJ, et al. Epigallocatechin gallate reduces hypoxia-induced apoptosis in
human hepatoma cells. Life Sci 2006;78(24)2826-32. (Click here to read PubMed study
abstract.)
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com,
the most comprehensive collection of scientific information
describing the health benefits of green tea.
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