Green tea polyphenols are strong antioxidants and can reduce free radical damage.

Can they protect spinal cord neurons against oxidative stress?

Jianbo Zhao and co-workers from the First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical University, China discovered that green tea polyphenol effectively alleviated oxidative stress and inhibited neuronal apoptosis, indicating that green tea polyphenols play a protective role in spinal cord neurons under oxidative stress.

The relevant study has been published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 14, 2014).

Article: "Green tea polyphenols protect spinal cord neurons against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress," by Jianbo Zhao , Shiqiang Fang , Yajiang Yuan , Zhanpeng Guo , Jinhao Zeng , Yue Guo , Peifu Tang , Xifan Mei (1 Vertebral Column Ward, Department of Orthopedics, First Affliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China;2 Department of Orthopedics, General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, China)

Zhao JB, Fang SQ, Yuan YJ, Guo ZP, Zeng JH, Guo Y, Tang PF , Mei XF. Green tea polyphenols protect spinal cord neurons against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(14):1379-1385