Journal of agricultural and food chemistryMay 15, 2024

Gut Bacteria May Help Oolong Tea Compounds Protect the Brain in Sleep Cycle-Related Memory Problems

Alzheimers & Treatments Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jan 12, 2026

Abstract

Oolong tea polyphenols (OTP) may relieve cognitive decline in mice with circadian rhythm disorder by modulating gut microbiota.

OTP reduced microglia activation by lowering levels of harmful microbial metabolites, specifically lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
Changes in gut microbiota composition included increased levels of beneficial bacteria and decreased harmful bacteria, which promoted the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
Supplementation with OTP alleviated intestinal barrier damage and reduced LPS transport to the bloodstream.
Neuroinflammation and neuron damage were inhibited, leading to decreased neurotoxicity from elevated glutamate levels.
OTP enhanced the expression of proteins related to synaptic plasticity, such as PSD-95 and synaptophysin, likely through increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Simplified

Oolong tea polyphenols (OTP) have attracted wide attention due to their ability to reduce inflammatory response, regulate gut microbiota, and improve cognitive function. However, exactly how the gut microbiota modulates nervous system activity is still an open question. We previously expounded that supplementing with OTP alleviated neuroinflammation in circadian rhythm disorder (CRD) mice. Here, we showed that OTP can relieve microglia activation by reducing harmful microbial metabolites lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that alleviate CRD-induced cognitive decline. Mechanistically, OTP suppressed the inflammation response by regulating the gut microbiota composition, including upregulating the relative abundance ofandand downregulating, promoting the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Moreover, the use of OTP alleviated intestinal barrier damage and decreased the LPS transport to the serum. These results further inhibited the activation of microglia, thus alleviating cognitive impairment by inhibiting neuroinflammation, neuron damage, and neurotoxicity metabolite glutamate elevation. Meanwhile, OTP upregulated the expression of synaptic plasticity-related protein postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) and synaptophysin (SYN) by elevating the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level. Taken together, our findings suggest that the OTP has the potential to prevent CRD-induced cognition decline by modulating gut microbiota and microbial metabolites. Muribaculaceae Clostridia_UCG-014Desulfovibrio

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Gut Bacteria May Help Oolong Tea Compounds Protect the Brain in Sleep Cycle-Related Memory Problems

Abstract

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