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Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model

The stimulant effect of energy drinks is primarily attributed to the caffeine they contain. Many energy drinks also contain other ingredients that might enhance the tonic effects of these caffeinated beverages. One of these additives is guarana. Guarana is a climbing plant native to the Amazon whose...

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Autores principales: Moustakas, Dimitrios, Mezzio, Michael, Rodriguez, Branden R., Constable, Mic Andre, Mulligan, Margaret E., Voura, Evelyn B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4399916/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25880065
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123310
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author Moustakas, Dimitrios
Mezzio, Michael
Rodriguez, Branden R.
Constable, Mic Andre
Mulligan, Margaret E.
Voura, Evelyn B.
author_facet Moustakas, Dimitrios
Mezzio, Michael
Rodriguez, Branden R.
Constable, Mic Andre
Mulligan, Margaret E.
Voura, Evelyn B.
author_sort Moustakas, Dimitrios
collection PubMed
description The stimulant effect of energy drinks is primarily attributed to the caffeine they contain. Many energy drinks also contain other ingredients that might enhance the tonic effects of these caffeinated beverages. One of these additives is guarana. Guarana is a climbing plant native to the Amazon whose seeds contain approximately four times the amount of caffeine found in coffee beans. The mix of other natural chemicals contained in guarana seeds is thought to heighten the stimulant effects of guarana over caffeine alone. Yet, despite the growing use of guarana as an additive in energy drinks, and a burgeoning market for it as a nutritional supplement, the science examining guarana and how it affects other dietary ingredients is lacking. To appreciate the stimulant effects of guarana and other natural products, a straightforward model to investigate their physiological properties is needed. The planarian provides such a system. The locomotor activity and convulsive response of planarians with substance exposure has been shown to provide an excellent system to measure the effects of drug stimulation, addiction and withdrawal. To gauge the stimulant effects of guarana we studied how it altered the locomotor activity of the planarian species Dugesia tigrina. We report evidence that guarana seeds provide additional stimulation over caffeine alone, and document the changes to this stimulation in the context of both caffeine and glucose.
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spelling pubmed-43999162015-04-21 Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model Moustakas, Dimitrios Mezzio, Michael Rodriguez, Branden R. Constable, Mic Andre Mulligan, Margaret E. Voura, Evelyn B. PLoS One Research Article The stimulant effect of energy drinks is primarily attributed to the caffeine they contain. Many energy drinks also contain other ingredients that might enhance the tonic effects of these caffeinated beverages. One of these additives is guarana. Guarana is a climbing plant native to the Amazon whose seeds contain approximately four times the amount of caffeine found in coffee beans. The mix of other natural chemicals contained in guarana seeds is thought to heighten the stimulant effects of guarana over caffeine alone. Yet, despite the growing use of guarana as an additive in energy drinks, and a burgeoning market for it as a nutritional supplement, the science examining guarana and how it affects other dietary ingredients is lacking. To appreciate the stimulant effects of guarana and other natural products, a straightforward model to investigate their physiological properties is needed. The planarian provides such a system. The locomotor activity and convulsive response of planarians with substance exposure has been shown to provide an excellent system to measure the effects of drug stimulation, addiction and withdrawal. To gauge the stimulant effects of guarana we studied how it altered the locomotor activity of the planarian species Dugesia tigrina. We report evidence that guarana seeds provide additional stimulation over caffeine alone, and document the changes to this stimulation in the context of both caffeine and glucose. Public Library of Science 2015-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4399916/ /pubmed/25880065 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123310 Text en © 2015 Moustakas et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Moustakas, Dimitrios
Mezzio, Michael
Rodriguez, Branden R.
Constable, Mic Andre
Mulligan, Margaret E.
Voura, Evelyn B.
Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title_full Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title_fullStr Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title_full_unstemmed Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title_short Guarana Provides Additional Stimulation over Caffeine Alone in the Planarian Model
title_sort guarana provides additional stimulation over caffeine alone in the planarian model
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4399916/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25880065
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123310
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