Pomegranate Supplementation Protects against Memory Dysfunction after Heart Surgery: A Pilot Study

Figure 4

Pomegranates may protect the brain (and therefore memory) from the effects of open-heart surgery by a number of potential mechanisms. General anesthesia can induce amyloid aggregation in the brain and the surgery can induce brain ischemia, both leading to reactive oxygen species (e.g., free radicals). These insults may cause neuronal cell death (apoptosis), suppression of the birth of new neurons (neurogenesis), vascular damage, and inflammation in the brain. Pomegranate’s antiapoptotic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and provascular (via nitric oxide synthase) properties may protect against those effects.