Stefani Massimo, Rigacci Stefania
Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences "Mario Serio,", University of Florence, Florence, Italy; Research Centre on the Molecular Basis of Neurodegeneration, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Biofactors. 2014 Sep-Oct;40(5):482-93. doi: 10.1002/biof.1171. Epub 2014 Jun 3.
Mediterranean and Asian diets are currently considered as the most healthy traditional feeding habits effective against risk of age-associated, particularly cardiovascular and neurodegenerative, diseases. A common feature of these two regimens is the abundance of foods and beverages of plant origin (green tea, extra virgin olive oil, red wine, spices, berries, and aromatic herbs) that are considered responsible for the observed beneficial effects. Epidemiological data suggest that the phenolic component remarkably enriched in these foods plays an important role in reducing the incidence of amyloid diseases, pathological conditions associated to tissue deposition of toxic protein aggregates responsible for progressive functional deterioration. Great effort is being spent to provide knowledge on the effects of several natural phenols in this context, moving from the test tube to animal models and, more slowly, to the patient's bed. An emerging feature that makes these molecules increasingly attractive for amyloid disease prevention and therapy is their wide spectrum of activity: recent pieces of evidence suggest that they can inhibit the production of amyloidogenic peptides from precursors, increase antioxidant enzyme activity, activate autophagy and reduce inflammation. Our concept should than shift from considering natural phenols simply as antioxidants or, at the best, as amyloid aggregation inhibitors, to describing them as potentially multitargeting drugs. A main concern is the low bioavailability of such compounds and efforts aimed at improving it are underway, with encapsulation strategies being the most promising ones.
地中海饮食和亚洲饮食目前被认为是最健康的传统饮食习惯，对预防与年龄相关的疾病，尤其是心血管疾病和神经退行性疾病，具有显著效果。这两种饮食方式的一个共同特点是富含植物源性的食物和饮品（绿茶、特级初榨橄榄油、红酒、香料、浆果和香草），这些被认为是产生上述有益效果的原因。流行病学数据表明，这些食物中显著富集的酚类成分在降低淀粉样疾病的发病率方面发挥着重要作用，淀粉样疾病是一种与有毒蛋白质聚集体在组织中沉积相关的病理状况，会导致功能逐渐恶化。目前人们正付出巨大努力，从试管实验到动物模型，再缓慢推进到临床患者，以了解多种天然酚类在这方面的作用。这些分子对淀粉样疾病预防和治疗越来越有吸引力的一个新特点是它们广泛的活性：最近的证据表明，它们可以抑制淀粉样前体肽的产生，提高抗氧化酶活性，激活自噬并减轻炎症。因此，我们的观念应该从仅仅将天然酚类视为抗氧化剂，或者充其量视为淀粉样蛋白聚集抑制剂，转变为将它们描述为潜在的多靶点药物。一个主要问题是这些化合物的生物利用度较低，目前正在努力改善这一状况，其中封装策略是最有前景的方法。
