Coffee is already recognized for its many health benefits. Psychostimulant, its caffeine stimulates and increases vigilance, it delays the onset of fatigue and promotes endurance. Its antioxidant properties would help prevent cardiovascular disorders and cancers. In addition, caffeine would limit the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Identify the receptor to reproduce aging
In a recent study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, an international team of researchers, including in particular collaborators from Inserm in Lille, France, sought to demonstrate that caffeine would be able to limit cognitive disorders due to age.
Scientists have identified a target caffeine receptor (or “A2A receptor”) in the brains of rats, which leads to the onset of memory disorders and a loss of stress control mechanisms.
“This work is part of a larger study launched 4 years ago,” explains Luisa Lopes of iMM Lisboa, coordinator of the study. “We had identified the role of the A2A receptor in stress, but we did not know if its activation would be enough to trigger other changes.”
Thus, by modifying the quantity of A2A receptors in the areas of the brain linked to memory, the researchers managed to reproduce the state of cognitive decline associated with aging, they called it the “early aging profile”.
A molecule that protects against cognitive decline
As a result, when animals with an early aging profile were treated with a caffeine-like molecule capable of blocking the action of A2A receptors, their memory performance became similar to that of control animals.
“In older people, we know there is an increase in stress hormones that impact memory.” The researchers believe that caffeine and other products capable of blocking this receptor have “the ability to counteract the loss of stress control mechanisms caused by aging”.
“This study not only makes it possible to understand the fundamental changes that occur when an individual ages, but also to identify disturbances of the A2A receptor as a major factor in triggering these changes. This leads to very interesting therapeutic perspectives” , concludes Luisa Lopes.
Besides coffee, there are many other ways to fight cognitive decline, like working out your head, playing a sport, or just keeping a good mood!
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