Figure 7

GCG, not EGCG, plays a role as a major contributor to HTP-GTE-induced improvement of synaptic and cognitive impairments in helpless OVX rats. (a,b) Western blot of BDNF level in the hippocampi of sham-OVX resilient + vehicle, OVX helpless + vehicle, OVX + GCG, OVX + CG, OVX + EGCG, and OVX + GCG-free HTP-GTE via oral administration of each green tea component daily for 4 weeks (Sham-OVX resilient + vehicle: 1.00 \(\pm \) 0.03; OVX helpless + vehicle: 0.72 \(\pm \) 0.02; OVX + GCG: 1.02 \(\pm \) 0.04; OVX + CG: 0.69 \(\pm \) 0.05; OVX + EGCG: 0.70 \(\pm \) 0.02; OVX + GCG free HTP-GTE: 0.75 \(\pm \) 0.02, n = 3 brains/group). Full-length blot is presented in Supplementary Fig. S13. (c–h) Top: representative traces showing EPSPs before (average of 20 traces, black line) and after (average of 180 traces, red line) high-frequency stimulus. Bottom: average time courses for EPSP amplitude during LTP induction on all groups. (i) Quantified graph was shown (Sham-OVX resilient + vehicle: 153.3 \(\pm \) 3.39, n = 5 slices/3 rats; OVX helpless + vehicle: 109.2 \(\pm \) 3.65, n = 6 slices/3 rats; OVX + GCG: 153.4 \(\pm \) 5.72, n = 6 slices/3 rats; OVX + CG: 108.5 \(\pm \) 1.51, n = 6 slices/3 rats; OVX + EGCG: 112.8 \(\pm \) 5.58, n = 6 slices/3 rats; OVX + GCG free HTP-GTE: 107.3 \(\pm \) 2.96, n = 6 slices/3 rats). (j) Morris water maze learning curves of 4 consecutive days. Data points represent mean value of escape latency of each day (Two-way repeated measured (RM) ANOVA Tukey’s post hoc test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). (k) Quantification of time spent in target quadrant (Sham-OVX resilient + vehicle: 24.16 \(\pm \) 1.75, n = 14; OVX helpless + vehicle: 14.00 \(\pm \) 2.01, n = 10; OVX + HTP-GTE: 25.99 \(\pm \) 1.97, n = 9; OVX + GCG: 31.07 \(\pm \) 1.78, n = 7; OVX + GCG free HTP-GTE: 20.74 \(\pm \) 3.98, n = 8). (l) Quantification of crossing number (Sham-OVX resilient + vehicle: 3.71 \(\pm \) 0.37, n = 14; OVX helpless + vehicle: 1.7 \(\pm \) 0.45, n = 10; OVX + HTP-GTE: 3.78 \(\pm \) 0.49, n = 9; OVX + GCG: 5.00 \(\pm \) 0.62, n = 7; OVX + GCG free HTP-GTE: 1.75 \(\pm \) 0.45, n = 8). Data are represented as mean \(\pm \) SEM (One-way ANOVA Tukey’s post hoc test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). (m–q) Representative Morris water maze movement track from all groups.