Sulforaphane improves cognitive function administered following traumatic brain injury.

Neurosci Lett. 2009 Aug 28;460(2):103-7. Epub 2009 Apr 15.

Dash PK, Zhao J, Orsi SA, Zhang M, Moore AN.

Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas 77225, United States.

Recent studies have shown that sulforaphane, a naturally occurring compound that is found in cruciferous vegetables, offers cellular protection in several models of brain injury. When administered following traumatic brain injury (TBI), sulforaphane has been demonstrated to attenuate blood-brain barrier permeability and reduce cerebral edema. These beneficial effects of sulforaphane have been shown to involve induction of a group of cytoprotective, Nrf2-driven genes, whose protein products include free radical scavenging and detoxifying enzymes. However, the influence of sulforaphane on post-injury cognitive deficits has not been examined. In this study, we examined if sulforaphane, when administered following cortical impact injury, can improve the performance of rats tested in hippocampal- and prefrontal cortex-dependent tasks. Our results indicate that sulforaphane treatment improves performance in the Morris water maze task (as indicated by decreased latencies during learning and platform localization during a probe trial) and reduces working memory dysfunction (tested using the delayed match-to-place task). These behavioral improvements were only observed when the treatment was initiated 1h, but not 6h, post-injury. These studies support the use of sulforaphane in the treatment of traumatic brain injury, and extend the previously observed protective effects to include enhanced cognition.

Note from ISS:  Several crucifer sprouts including broccoli sprouts are currently the most potent natural source of sulforaphane known.  They often produce 10 to 100 times the amount of sulforaphane as their corresponding mature vegetables.

“Broccoli sprouts have a very high concentration of sulforaphane since this compound originates in the seed and is not made in the plant as it grows. One sprout contains all of the sulforaphane that is present in a full grown broccoli plant.”  “Nutrition and cancer: a review of the evidence for an anti-cancer diet”Nutr J. 2004 Oct 20;3:19, Donaldson MS. Hallelujah Acres Foundation, 13553 Vantage Hwy, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA.