New research has shown that a compound commonly found in pickled capers activates proteins essential for normal human brain andCardiac activity requiredare. Furthermore, these results could even contribute to potential future treatments for epilepsy and cardiac arrhythmias.
Pickled capers with health benefits
California researchers have found that a compound called quercetin can directly regulate some important proteins. These are necessary for physical processes such as heartbeat, thoughts, muscle contraction and normal thyroid function. Such processes also occur in the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract. The published study was conducted by the laboratory of Professor Geoffrey Abbott at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California. Kaitlyn Redford, a graduate student in the Abbott Lab, was lead author of the study. The Abbott Lab found that quercetin, a plant bioflavonoid, modulates potassium ion channels in the KCNQ gene family. These channels have a major impact on human health and their dysfunction is linked to several common diseases. These include diabetes, cardiac arrhythmias and epilepsy.
So the study found that quercetin modulates KCNQ channels by directly regulating how they sense electrical activity in the cell. This suggests a previously unexpected mechanism for the therapeutic properties of capers. The mechanism may also extend to other foods in the daily diet as well as quercetin-based supplements. Additionally, scientists can conduct future medicinal chemistry studies. Thus, small molecules based on quercetin can be developed and optimized for possible use as therapeutics.
Research results
The Abbott Lab tested plant extracts for the ability to alter the activity of KCNQ channels. The team found that one percent pickled caper extract activated channels important for the normal activity of the human brain and heart. Further studies revealed that the molecular mechanism binds quercetin from the extract to a region of the KCNQ channel. This is required for response to electrical activity. It causes the channel to open when it would normally be closed. Increasing the activity of KCNQ channels in different parts of the body is potentially of great benefit. Synthetic drugs that do this have been used to treat epilepsy and abnormal heart rhythms.
Apart fromthis study, pickled capers have long been known for their beneficial properties, according to archaeological evidence. According to archaeological finds from Mesolithic soil deposits in Syria and Stone Age cave dwellings in Greece and Israel, these go back up to 10,000 years. Capers have been traditionally used as a folk medicine for hundreds if not thousands of years and are currently used for their potential as a cancer preventative,anti-diabeticand anti-inflammatory properties as well as their possible benefits for the circulatory system and the gastrointestinal tract.
