down syndrome

A compound in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate, along with a protocol of cognitive stimulation, improves the intellectual ability of people with Down syndrome. Additionally, this compound may actually modify excitability, and functional connectivity of the brain, as discovered in a phase 2 clinical trial carried out by a team of scientists led by the Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, along with a research group specialising in neuropharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology and Neuroscience Integrated Systems. Dr. Rafael de la Torre, one of the researchers working on the project, said that he expressed “surprise” at seeing that the results and changes also “suggest that the functional connectivity of neurons in the brain is modified”. The next step for De la Torre and for the head of the Cellular Neurobiology and Systems at the CRG and principal author of the study, Dr. Dierssen, is to move forward and conduct these studies on children, in which brain plasticity is not as limited.