How Percepta® Works
How Percepta® Works
How Percepta Works
Plaques and Tangles in the Normal Aging Brain
Your brain is an amazing thing, perhaps the most complex organ in the universe! Right now, your brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells all constantly connecting, firing and helping you get through the day. Starting in our early adulthood, however, our brains begin a slow, deliberate decline, as they begin to accumulate plaques and tangles.
Your brain weighs only three pounds, or about 2% of your body’s weight. Yet it uses 20-30% of the calories you consume, 20% of the oxygen you breathe, and 25% of the blood flow in your body; it consist of 85% water. There are approximately 100 billion nerve cells (i.e. neurons) in your brain, and up to a quadrillion synapses (1). Starting in your early adulthood, there is a slow but deliberate accumulation of two neurotoxic proteins in your brain as you age (2).
First is the brain accumulation of an insoluble (aggregated) specific protein known as the “beta-amyloid protein” (i.e. “Aβ” or “Abeta”). Beta-amyloid protein deposits in the form of plaques (that look like “meatballs” in the brain under a light microscope) have been shown to be instrumental in killing healthy neurons (i.e. nerve cells) (3-5). The accumulation of plaques in the brain leads to a decline in hippocampus-dependent memory and cognition in the normal aging brain. Dr. Snow’s laboratories developed and patented methods to produce plaques in a test-tube: (identical to what is seen in the human brain) and used these methods to screen for and identify natural “plaque-reducing” nutraceutical ingredients (6).
The second neurotoxic protein that accumulates in the aging brain is known as the “tau protein” and forms twisted paired helical filaments inside neurons (or nerve cells) called tangles (7-8). Tangles accumulate inside neurons and cause neurons to die. Tangles look like dried spaghetti strands under a light microscope.
Dr. Snow’s research team was the sole supplier of the tau 4-repeat domain to Sigma Aldrich which was sold to researchers all over the world to make tangles in a test-tube or petri dish (9). Thus, in the normal aging brain, you have the accumulation of both plaques and tangles that cause neurons to die; connections between nerve cells (called synapses) to disintegrate; and memory and cognition to progressively decline.
Neurofibrillary tangles consisting of tau protein form inside neurons and also cause neurons to die.
Compounds or agents able to disaggregate and reduce the accumulation of plaques and tangles have been shown to lead to memory improvement and a reduction in memory decline (10-18). The only difference between a healthy brain and an aging brain is the number of plaques and tangles in the brain. The more plaques and tangles you accumulate as you normally age, the worse your memory, focus, concentration and cognition will be.
Percepta® is postulated to be the world’s first oral nootropic to target the real reason we lose memory as we age: The accumulation of brain plaques and tangles.*
The tea fermenting process, an important production stage in the process of creating Percepta's MemorTea® ingredient.
Two Ingredients
The one-two punch of distinct plant extracts, and postulated inhibitors and reducers of brain plaques and tangles, make up Percepta®.
The Snow research team screened different kinds of teas including green tea (unoxidized or unfermented), oolong tea (partially oxidized or partially fermented), and black tea (fully oxidized or fully fermented), from various sources to also identify the most robust inhibitor/ disrupter of both brain plaques and tangles. They then found that a specific and proprietary “oolong tea” (known as “MemorTea®”) from a secret source reduced and inhibited brain plaques and tangles as well.
This one-two punch of two distinct plant extracts and postulated inhibitors and reducers of brain plaques and tangles make up the innovative synergistic components of Percepta®. Percepta® is the world’s first natural plant-derived nootropic to target brain plaques and tangles for memory support and enhancement.* The Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa) major ingredient in Percepta® was previously also shown to enhance the immune system (19, 20).
Formation of Cognitive Clarity Inc.
Dr. Alan Snow has joined forces with Dr. Rudolph Tanzi (one of the world’s most foremost authorities on brain aging) to form Cognitive Clarity Inc. in 2015 for the development of Breakthrough Nutraceuticals for the Aging Brain.
Percepta® has thus been specifically formulated and developed by two of the world’s most renowned authorities on brain aging.
Dr. Alan Snow and Dr. Rudolph Tanzi
The cat’s claw bark in Percepta® hails from Peru, home to the Machu Picchu mountain range.
Why Only Two Ingredients in Percepta®?
The Snow research teams made a startling discovery with regards to the combination of different dietary ingredients and their relationship to effecting brain plaques and tangles. The common notion in the nutraceutical marketplace is that adding “more ingredients” into a variety of brain health products will lead to a “synergistic” or “additive” effect. For example, many of the brain health nutraceutical products in the market place today contain 5, 10, 15 and sometimes more than 20 ingredients that are believed to affect different parts of the brain, and improve memory, focus, concentration and/or cognition.
The Snow research teams found that this belief is not scientifically true. In fact, it was discovered by the Snow Research labs that by adding more nutraceutical ingredients, together, actually caused certain nutraceutical ingredients that were effective alone—to be “ineffective” when placed in combination with other nutraceutical ingredients. What was happening in “combination nutraceutical ingredients” for the brain—is that there was “an elimination effect”—whereby adding more ingredients actually caused certain “other” ingredients in the combinations, “to be inhibited” and “stop working.”
Another problem with most multi-ingredient nutraceuticals for brain health, is that adding more ingredients in very small quantities (50mg or less), does nothing to the combination, since much of these “small quantity” ingredients will be absorbed, never cross the blood-brain-barrier, and actually never reach the brain and have an effect.
Percepta® with only two ingredients markedly inhibits and reduces plaques and tangles in a number of in vitro and animal model studies. The science behind the product shows that the major PTI-00703® Cat’s claw ingredient discovered by the Snow research teams, gets into the brain within two minutes after being in the blood (see Research Studies). In addition, having only two ingredients that are synergistic and affect the target (i.e. brain plaques and tangles) is mainly due to 4 important and scientific validated points.
1) There is a remarkable synergistic effect by having the specific combination of PTI-00703® Cat’s claw and MemorTea®—which on their own can inhibit and reduce plaques and tangles as well.
2) The Snow research teams have tested and identified the best source of cat’s claw and oolong tea extract—which have been (each and in combination) specifically studied to target brain plaques and tangles and improve memory as you normally age. The secret source of each of the two major ingredients in Percepta® have been identified, and Cognitive Clarity Inc. (the producers of Percepta®) hold the exclusive rights with each of these companies to produce PTI-00703® cat’s claw and MemorTea®, exclusive for the Percepta® final product.
3) The two ingredients are maximized in a daily serving of 750mg to have a maximum effect on reducing brain plaques and tangles, and cause memory enhancement in the normal aging brain.
4) No other brain nutraceutical in the world contains patented PTI-00703® Cat’s claw and MemorTea® that have been backed by over 15 years of science and over 50 issued patents.
References
1. Chopra, Deepak, and Tanzi, Rudolph. Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize, Health, Happiness and Spiritual Well-Being. Three Rivers Press, New York, 2012.
2. Baker-Nigh, A., et al. Neuronal amyloid-β accumulation within cholinergic basal forebrain in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 138:1722-1737, 2015.
3. Rodrique, K.M., Kennedy, K.M., & Park, D.C. Beta-amyloid deposition and the aging brain.Neuropsychology Rev. 19:436-450, 2009.
4. Rodrique, K.M., et al. β-amyloid burden in healthy aging. Regional distribution and cognitive consequences. Neurology 78:387-395, 2012.
5. Wolk, D.A., and Klunk, W.E. Update on amyloid imaging: from healthy aging to Alzheimer’sdisease. Curr. Neurol. Neurosc. Rep. 9:345-352, 2009.
6. Catillo, G.M., and Snow, A.D. US Patent #7148001 B2. In vitro formation of congophilic maltese-cross amyloid plaques to identify anti-plaque therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and prion diseases. Issued: Dec 12, 2006.
7. Jin, M. et al. Soluble amyloid beta-protein dimers isolated from Alzheimer cortex directly induce tau hyperphosphorylation and neurite degeneration. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108:5819-5824, 2011.
8. Scholl, M. et al. PET imaging of tau deposition in the aging human brain. Neuron 89:971-982, 2016.
9. See www.sigmaaldrich.com and look up tau 4-repeat domain human.
10. Schenk et al. Immunization with amyloid-β attenuates Alzheimer’s-disease-like pathology in PDAPP
mouse. Nature 400:173-177, 1999.
11. Bard, F. et al. Peripherally administered antibodies against amyloid beta-peptide enters the central
nervous system and reduce pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Nature Medicine 6:916-
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12. Janus, C. et al. Aβ peptide immunization reduces behavioral impairment and plaques in a model of
Alzheimer’s disease. Nature 408:979-982, 2000.
13. Morgan, D., et al. Aβ peptide vaccination prevents memory loss in an animal model of Alzheimer’s
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14. Hock C., et al. Antibodies against β-amyloid slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. Neuron 38:547
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15. Walsh, D.M. and Selkoe, D.J. Deciphering the molecular basis of memory failure in Alzheimer’s disease.
Neuron 44:181-193, 2004.
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17. Bohrmann B., et al. Gatenerumab: a novel human anti-Aβ antibody demonstrates sustained cerebral
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gatenerumab. Arch. Neurology 69:198-207, 2012.
19. Keplinger et al. Oxindole alkaloids having properties stimulating the immunologic system and
preparation containing the same. US Patent 4,844,901. Issued July 4, 1989.
20. Keplinger et al. Oxindole alkaloids having properties stimulating the immunologic system and
preparation containing the same. US Patent 4,940,725. Issued July 10, 1990.