Tapuy lees attenuate amyloid-β toxicity and dopaminergic neurodegeneration more effectively than Tapuy wine in C. elegans models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

Tapuy is a traditional rice wine from the Philippines. We explored the potential of Tapuy wine and its fermentation by-product, lees, in reducing amyloid-beta toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease (PD) models of C. elegans. We found that both Tapuy wine and lees decreased amyloid-beta aggregation by 91.98% and delayed the average time of paralysis in amyloid-beta-expressing worms by 18.32%. Additionally, Tapuy wine and lees reduced dopaminergic neuronal loss by 31.55% in dopamine-overexpressing worms. Moreover, there were substantial improvements in the worms’ response to mechanical stimuli, specifically in the gentle head touch test, by 16.67%. Tapuy wine and lees showed potent antioxidant activities comparable to ascorbic acid, with the lees having the highest antioxidant activities. LC–MS/MS profiling revealed a diverse range of antioxidant phytochemicals in the extracts, especially in the lees, which may contribute to their enhanced neuroprotective effects. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that a rice wine, particularly Tapuy, reduces amyloid-beta toxicity in AD and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in PD models of C. elegans.