Description du projet
Comment les phénoliques alimentaires retardent l’apparition de maladies neurodégénératives
On estime qu’une alimentation riche en phénoliques retarde l’apparition de maladies neurodégénératives chez les personnes âgées. Toutefois, les actions mécanistes des phénoliques sur la santé du cerveau restent à déterminer. Le projet LIMBo, financé par l’UE, vise à analyser la capacité des phénoliques alimentaires à prévenir et retarder la neuro-inflammation, un processus central des maladies neurodégénératives. Le projet se concentrera sur les métabolites dérivés des phénoliques alimentaires en étudiant leurs effets sur les voies établies et inconnues des cellules microgliales. LIMBo apportera des connaissances essentielles qui renforceront la compréhension de la diversité de métabolites phénoliques, leurs répercussions spécifiques sur la neuro-inflammation et leur utilisation potentielle comme promédicaments. En outre, il fournira des connaissances scientifiques précieuses pour la future mise en œuvre de régimes sains pour le cerveau.
Objectif
Currently a big concern of our aging society is to efficiently delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases which are progressively rising in incidence. The paradigm that a diet rich in the phenolics, prevalent e.g. in fruits, is beneficial to brain health has reached the public. However their mechanistic actions in brain functions remain to be seen, particularly since the nature of those acting in the brain remains overlooked. I wish to address this gap by identifying candidate compounds that can support development of effective strategies to delay neurodegeneration.
Specifically, I will be analysing the potential of dietary phenolics in both prevention and treatment (i.e delay) of neuroinflammation – key process shared in neurodegenerative diseases. To break down the current indeterminate status of “cause vs effect”, my vision is to focus my research on metabolites derived from dietary phenolics that reach the brain. I will be investigating their effects in both established and unknown response pathways of microglia cells - the innate immune cells of the central nervous system, either alone or when communicating with other brain cells. Ultimately, to attain an integrated view of their effects I will establish nutrition trials in mice. LIMBo considers both pro- and anti- inflammatory processes to preliminary validate the action of any promising metabolite in prevention and/or therapeutics.
LIMBo provides valuable scientific insights for future implementation of healthy brain diets. My group is in a unique position to address LIMBo objectives due to multidisciplinary expertise in organic synthesis, metabolomics and molecular and cellular biology, together with our previous data on novel neuroactive metabolites.
LIMBo also creates far-reaching opportunities by generating knowledge that impacts our fundamental understanding on the diversity of phenolic metabolites and their specific influences in neuroinflammation and potential use as prodrugs.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
1099 085 Lisboa
Portugal