THE SUPPRESSION OF AGE-RELATED ACCUMULATION OF LIPID PEROXIDES IN RAT-BRAIN BY ADMINISTRATION OF ROOIBOS TEA (ASPALATHUS-LINEARIS)

The protective effects of Rooibos tea (RT), Aspalathus linearis, again st damage to the central nervous system (CNS) accompanying aging were examined by both the thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBA) and magnetic r esonance imaging (MRI) methods in brains of chronically RT-treated rat s. Ad libitum administration of RT was begun with 3-month-old Wistar f emale rats and continued for 21 months, The contents of TBA reactive s ubstances (TBARS) in the frontal cortex, occipital cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in 24-month-old rats after administration with water w ere significantly higher than those in young rats (5 weeks old), Howev er, no significant increase of TBARS was observed in RT-administered a ged rats. When MR images of the brains of 24-month-old rats with and w ithout RT as well as 5-week-old rats were taken, a decrease of the sig nal intensity was observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cer ebellum 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 th e morphological changes observed by MRI, and (2) chronic RT-administra tion prevented age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in several regions of rat brain.