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Natural compounds found in cranberries may protect nerve cells against damage resulting from stroke, according to a lab study described here on Monday at the meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Catherine C. Neto of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and others simulated conditions of stroke in cultured rat brain neurons in a lab dish, and then treated some of the cells with a concentrated cranberry extract.

They found that 43 to 49 percent fewer of the cranberry-treated neurons died off than those left untreated.

"This study shows that cranberry extract is able to prevent the death of brain cells under conditions that would produce a stroke," Neto told.

Studies are under way to isolate the beneficial compound in cranberry juice. "We have not found out what the specific chemical responsible for the protective effect is," Neto said. "It is probably part of the flavonoid class of compounds," she added, which combat oxidation and the subsequent accumulation of damaging free radicals.

This is the first study to demonstrate a link between antioxidant-rich cranberries and possible stroke protection. "There are other groups studying the health effects related to antioxidant activity of cranberry, but to our knowledge no other group is studying its effects on neurons," she said.

Funding for current study was provided by the Cranberry Institute and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

In related studies in rats, Neto's collaborator, Dr. Marva Sweeney- Nixon at the University of Prince Edward Island, found that blueberries, which are closely related to cranberries and are similarly rich in antioxidants, also reduce brain cell damage due to stroke. (2003) 

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