Jennifer Depew

MicroRNA are non-coding short lengths of nucleotides (19-23 nucleotides) that have regulatory control over whether an mRNA will be transcribed into a protein or degraded by the cell. MicroRNAs affect specific mRNA and their proteins but may be able to affect 100s of them so it is not a simple thing to study or to say miRNA type A does this one specific thing consistently every time. Chronic illnesses have been found to show patterns in which miRNA are present in different amounts than in normal health, whether up or down regulated – not typical.

Good news – plant polyphenols seem to provide very beneficial and multiple effects on microRNA and the downstream mRNA, protein transcription, and chemical pathway activation or inhibition.

Nine polyphenols were tested and found to effect similar miRNA and similar pathways – reducing oxidative stress and inflammation and improving blood lipid chemistry in the apo e -/- knockout mouse used in the study in comparison to normal/wildtype mice.