Abstract
Tea (Camellia sinensis), having anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and free radical scavenging properties, may be beneficial to prevent the symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this present study, field experiments using the productive tea clone (TV25) with four nutrient management treatments were conducted during 2015 to 2017 in the research farm of Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The four nutrient management treatments were no application of fertilizer (control), organic fertilizer (OF), inorganic fertilizer (IF), and integration of OF and IF (IF + OF). The contents of different catechins of tea leaves grown under these treatments were measured using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Tea leaf samples of these treatments were fed to the intracerebroventricular (ICV) colchicine administered rats. The animal study was double-blinded and randomized. Assessment of anxiety status was done for the rat model in an elevated open field with a novel object in two intervals (14-day and 21-day study). Anxiolytic behaviour with the lower corticosterone (CORT) level (82 ng/ml) was observed in ICV colchicine administered rat models of AD. After feeding of organically and inorganically grown tea extract (10, 20, and 30 mg/kg) for 14 days and 21 days, it was found that the anxiolytic behaviour decreased with the increased concentration of serum CORT. However, organic tea showed greater increase in CORT level (216.1 ng/ml) as compared to inorganic tea (214 ng/ml). Thus, this study showed organic tea may act as a favourable agent or adjuvant in the improvement of the anxiolytic behaviour in rat model of AD.
