2016 12 12 power of blueberries usf magazine fall 2016

The Power of

Blueberries

34 UNIVERSITY of SOUTH FLORIDA

PHOTOS: Pg. 34, YASONYA | iStock; pg. 35, KASIAM | iStock

P

aula Bickford was into blueberries before blueberries were cool. More than a decade ago, the pharmacologist was part of the research that revealed their antioxidant properties.

And she stayed with it, spending hour after hour in laboratories searching for ways to harness the protective powers of blueberries and other natural products.

When she arrived at USF in 2001, she began working with Paul Sanberg, who was researching stem cells. It was an “ideal combination,� says Bickford, professor in the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and a senior research career scientist at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa.

Over the next 10 years, they studied dozens of potential ingredients to find those that combined most effectively to fight damaging inflammation and promote new cell growth. Their final product is the centerpiece of a spinoff company called Natura Therapeutics, founded by Bickford and Sanberg, now USF Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development.

Once known only as NT-020, the patented formula called Neutrastem mixes blueberry and green tea extracts, vitamin D3 and L-carnosine, an amino acid found in

Photo: ERIC YOUNGHANS | USF Health

“

If we can prevent some of these diseases, or at least slow them down, then we’ll stay healthy longer. Healthy aging is the goal.”

– Paula Bickford

meats and vegetables. It is available online at www. naturatherapeutics.com and at the Pharmacy Plus located in the Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare.

In the lab, aging rats taking NT-020 learned more quickly and retained the information longer. In clinical trials with older adults, Bickford and colleagues, including Brent Small, professor in the School of Aging Studies, found modest but clear improvements in cognitive processing speed, specifically how fast participants performed on timed tasks.

Based on these results, Bickford believes they would see greater improvement in people with some cognitive impairment and is pursuing funding for additional studies.

In the meantime, however, in the less publicized realm of academic research, she, Small and other USF researchers are publishing work on how NT-020 preserves brain function.

One study in the peer-reviewed journal AGE examined the serum from blood of aged rats that had consumed NT-020 and those that had not. The serum of the untreated aged rats interfered with brain and bone stem-cell growth. By contrast, the serum of the aged rats that had consumed NT-020 was not different from the young rats’ serum.

Another study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neuroinflammation looked at how brain cells send messages to one another. The researchers found evidence that NT-020 influences this messaging process to reduce

damaging inflammation.

From the start, when she was a child taking things apart and putting them back together in her basement, Bickford has moved steadily toward understanding the basic mechanisms of aging – how we break and how to slow the process. But she also emphasizes the basics of everyday living.

“Supplements can help, but we still need to eat well,” she says. “We need to stay active, to keep our brains active and to be physically active. We still need to get up out of our chairs.”

Reprinted with permission from USF magazine, fall 2016 FALL 2016 35