I-Corps: Fenchol Enriched Dietary Supplements

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种可能预防认知障碍和衰退的膳食补充剂。肠道微生物群在维持健康的认知健康方面发挥着重要作用，然而，微生物群的不利变化可能会导致认知能力下降。微生物群有益于大脑和其他健康措施的途径是通过产生有益的代谢物，如短链脂肪酸来发挥作用。临床前研究表明，短链脂肪酸，如醋酸酯、丙酸盐和丁酸盐，可以预防痴呆症。然而，长期保持健康有益的微生物群在现实生活中很难实践。拟议的技术重点是开发一种天然提取的罗勒提取物膳食补充剂，以药物食品的形式存在，以维持老年人的健康、肠道-脑轴和认知健康。这个i-Corps项目是基于一种膳食补充剂的开发，该补充剂促进健康的微生物群，以减少与衰老相关的认知衰退和痴呆症的风险。这项技术是基于模仿微生物合成的短链脂肪酸的作用机制而发现的，短链脂肪酸对维持健康的大脑功能有好处。短链脂肪酸通过游离脂肪酸受体保护神经细胞免受各种细胞毒性暴露，并维持大脑健康。游离脂肪酸受体在神经元中大量表达，因此，它们的作用可以直接调节大脑健康。然而，通过口服途径给药时，短链脂肪酸不能到达大脑。为了克服这一缺点，芳香酚，一种罗勒提取物化合物，具有类似于短链脂肪酸的性质，已被确定为一种激活游离脂肪酸受体并保护大脑健康免受神经退化影响的方法。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a dietary supplement that may prevent the onset of cognitive disorders and decline. The gut microbiome plays an important role in maintaining healthy cognitive health, however, adverse changes in the microbiome can contribute to cognitive decline. The pathway by which the microbiome benefits the brain and other health measures is showing action through the production of beneficial metabolites such as short chain fatty acids. Preclinical studies have shown that short chain fatty acids like acetate, propionate, and butyrate protect against dementia. However, maintaining a healthy beneficial microbiome over the long-term is hard to practice in real-life. The proposed technology focuses on developing a naturally derived basil extract dietary supplement in the form of a medicinal food for maintaining a health gut-brain axis and cognitive health in elderly individuals. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a dietary supplement that promotes a healthy microbiome to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia associated with aging. The technology was discovered based on mimicking the mechanism of action of microbiome synthesized short chain fatty acids that have beneficial effects in maintaining healthy brain function. Short chain fatty acids protect neuronal cells from various cytotoxic exposures and maintain brain health through free fatty acid receptors. Free fatty acid receptors are abundantly expressed in the neurons, therefore, their actions are amenable to directly modulate brain health. However, short chain fatty acids are not able to reach the brain when given through the oral route. To overcome this drawback, fenchol, a basil extract compound that has similar properties to short chain fatty acids, has been identified as a way to activate the free fatty acid receptors and protect the brain health from neurodegeneration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.