Pine Bark Extract Proanthocyanidins and Pine Bark logogriph.Pine Bark Extract.

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Optimal Brain Function and Proanthocyanidins.

Pine Bark Extract INCI Name Pinetree extract CAS 000000-14-0 French Marine Pine Bark Extract French Maritime Pine Bark Extract Leucoanthocyanidins OPC Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins PCO Pinus maritima Pinus pinaster Procyandiol Oligomers Procyanodolic Oligomers Pycnogenol Pygenol Pine Bark Extract.Proanthocyanidins Pinus Strobus Bark extract.Proanthocyanidin B2 photo picture image Grape seed extract provides a rich source of proanthocyanidins, chemical 'cousins' of the more well-known bioflavonoids. Proanthocyanidins have special value for brain health for at least two reasons - their free radical-quenching antioxidant effects and their collagen-protecting effects.

 In some test models, proanthocyanidins are 50 times more potent antioxidants than the two most famous antioxidants, vitamins C and E. Sophisticated tests have shown proanthocyanidins to be powerful quenchers of the hydroxyl radical, the most damaging of all common free radicals, as well as lipid peroxides (rancid fats). Proanthocyanidins have also been shown to markedly delay the onset of lipid peroxidation and to effectively chelate iron ions. Free iron ions are some of the most powerful promoters of lipid peroxide, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical production. This is a major contributor to the pathogenesis of Parkinsons disease, one of the most common neurological diseases of the aged.

 The structure and function of the brain make it especially susceptible to free radical damage. Neurons are unusually rich in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), the most polyunsaturated fat in the human body. Greater polyunsaturation equals greater ease of free radical damage. This damage is especially prone to occur to neuronal cell membranes - down which electric currents must pass - and to mitochondrial membranes, mitochondria being the 'power plants' that generate the ATP energy that powers all aspects of our brains and bodies. In the very act of 'burning' food to liberate ATP energy in the mitochondria, electron 'sparks' are released that promote free radical damage to polyunsaturate-rich mitochondrial membranes, the 'walls' that cover and define the mitochondrial shape and structure. Free radical-damaged mitochondria are poor energy producers; yet our brain neurons must collectively produce and use 20% of the bodys total ATP output. So,grape seed extract proanthocyanidins probably help brains gradually, over weeks to months, recover to the higher brain energy level needed to sustain mental focus and concentration.

 The other known benefit to the brain that proanthocyanidins offer derives from proanthocyanidins ability to protect collagen structures. Collagen and elastin are the proteins that serve as 'cement' to hold together the cells that make up blood vessel walls. Proanthocyanidins inhibit enzymes such as hyaluronidase, collagenase and elastase that can break down the collagen structure of blood vessel walls.1 This fact is especially important for brain health, due to the blood-brain barrier.

 Capillaries (the tiniest blood vessels that feed individual cells) in the brain are different from capillaries elsewhere in the body. All non-brain capillaries possess 'slit pores' - openings between the patchwork quilt-like mosaic of cells which form blood vessel walls. These slit pores allow nutrient molecules to diffuse from the capillary blood into the fluid which bathes all cells, and thence into the cells themselves. Brain capillaries lack this feature, however. All the cells making up the brain capillary walls are tightly 'stitched' together through their supporting collagen-elastin ground substance 'cement'.

 Nutrient molecules can only pass from the capillary blood to the surrounding brain cells with the help of ATP energy-driven carrier molecules. These act like ferry boats to take nutrients from the blood side of the capillary cell wall, through the capillary lining cell, to the outside of the capillary cell wall, where the nutrient molecules are then picked up by special non-neuronal brain cells called 'glial cells', which then pass the nutrients to the neurons (the electrically active brain cells) for their use. This blood-brain barrier provides a special degree of protection from toxins, as well as blood level fluctuations of nutrients that might disregulate key brain processes. This is especially important for neurons. While all other cell types create their own replacements our whole life long - e.g. new skin cells and intestinal lining cells every 3-5 days, new red blood cells every 4 months, even new bone cells over several years - our bodies create no new neurons after age two. Thus, brain cells are literally irreplaceable. Even if we live to be 100, we will still have the exact same original neurons we had at age two, minus those that died off along the way. Parkinsons disease occurs when 70-80% of a small group of dopamine-using neurons have died off in a brain region called the 'substantia migra'. Thus, anything that safely and effectively preserves and protects the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, also preserves and protects the life, health and function of our precious, irreplaceable neurons.

 Grape seed extract proanthocyanidins can protect the collagen-elastin 'cement' that holds the brain capillary cells together, with no 'leaky holes' from the damaging action of both free radicals and collagen-elastin dissolving enzymes that leak out from damaged or dying cells. Thus, proanthocyanidins are powerful protectors of blood-brain barrier integrity. The seamless, holeless integrity of the blood-brain barrier is the basis for the integrity of our brain structure and function. Autopsy studies have shown that various forms of brain disease and damage can literally create tiny holes in the blood-brain barrier . This allows toxins (such as neurotoxic pesticide residues on our food) and excesses of certain nutrients (such as sodium) to leak into brain cells, with results ranging from mild disruption of function (as in ADD) to neuronal death.

 Proanthocyanidins are extremely safe, natural compounds found in many foods - although at levels too low to provide major benefit. Grape Seed Extract and Pine Bark Extract (Pycnogenol) are the two main commercial sources of concentrated proanthocyanidins A proanthocyanidin called B2-3-O-gallate is present only in Grape Seed Extract, not in pine bark, and is the most powerful specificproanthocyanidin yet discovered.1 Grape Seed Extract is also significantly less expensive than Pycnogenol, and so is arguably the best proanthocyanidin source. An 'economy level' dose of proanthocyanidins is 30-50 mg per day, while 100 mg is a more truly therapeutic dosage. In Europe, where grape seed extract proanthocyanidins have been used clinically and studied for over 20 years, doses from 100 to 400 mg per day are routinely used. Proanthocyanidins are virtually non-toxic at any affordable dose, with grape allergy being the one possible cause for caution.

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citations1.Pine Bark Extract Proanthocyanidins and Pine Bark logogriph.Pine Bark Extract.

last edit date:11th,May.2009.