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New Way to Stimulate Brain to Release Antioxidants
Neopallium writes "A joint research effort between researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, CA, and a team from Japan (Iwate University, Osaka City University, Gifu University, Iwate Medical University) has discovered a novel way to treat stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. This approach works by inducing nerve cells in the brain and the spine to release natural antioxidants that protect nerve cells from stress and free radicals that lead to neurodegenerative diseases."
The research even suggests that this therapy could help in the treatment of Lou Gehrig's, and Alzheimer's disease. This is some very interesting and promising stuff. Lets hope that this is not just some press release for a pharmaceutical company trying to push a drug they are working on.
... pomegranite juice injections in my spine. Why don't they hook me up with a white wine IV and save themselves the trouble?
Stimulating the brain on its own would be a great achievement for todays couch potatoes.. let alone releasing anti oxidants.
-Sj53
According to the article, they use NEPPs (NEurite outgrowth-Promoting Prostaglandins) to activate the pathways to release the stress-reducing antioxidants. That's like how R2D2 is frequently used to run the elevators while Luke and Han are running around the Death Star.
This won't cure anyone who already has it though. It's a preventative measure. It may get rid of these diseases in 30 years once it's been used widely, but it's not going to help anyone right now.
Someone save me from this sanity.
Perhaps for treating specialized diseases, but like most drugs, if you force your brain to do things it normally shouldn't, like release more of a certain compound, you'll run into production and resistance issues, eventually requiring more and more for the same effect until bad things happen.
I remain skeptical.
This sounds like protandim. Protandim was a nutritional supplement that was being touted as a life extension drug a while back. The idea was that the human body could never swallow enough anti-oxidants to make up for the fall off with age. Besides, acids in the stomach ruin most anyways. The researcher who made protandim got the idea of restimulating the bodies natural production of anti-oxidants. I believe they claimed a 400% increase in naturally produced anti-oxidant levels. There were quite a few scientific papers that showed beneficial effects to mice suffering from strokes. Unfortunately the company seems to have wavered on what their claims are. Over time, they stepped down from that less provable statement that it could extend lifespan. Still, I don't think anyone has refuted the positive effects. They just shouldn't have targeted the I want to live forever market.
You have to ask yourself, at what point is it time to just let it go? Is there a point to let it go? Maybe the point exists, maybe it doesn't, I expect its a relative outlook of moral perspective, but it seems that if there is a line somewhere, it can't be far away from where we are.
-Da3vid-
It seems in this situation, such a complaint is jumping the gun a bit. First of all, this *is* talking about treating specialized diseases (as it says in the article, "stroke and neurodegenerative disorders". And in these cases, the brain is already "doing something it normally shouldn't." The drug is merely trying to restore it to a state of functioning normally.
Second, while the possibility of resistance is always looming, a stroke or Alzheimer's patient may be willing to take that risk if it means even a slightly longer period of lucidity. Would you rather risk the *possibility* of the drug eventually causing problems or losing its effectiveness, or take instead the *certainty* of a progressive and insidious neurological disease?
Certainly a new drug should not be taken lightly. For example, it may not yet be appropriate for someone who has learned of their diagnosis but have not yet degenerated very far. But once you've reached such a hopeless condition as to be completely debilitated, you (or those caring for you) may ask "What's the worst that could happen? At least with this there's hope."
"excessive levels glutamate is toxic, resulting in over stimulation of nerve cells, known as excitotoxicity, and causing excessive stress on the nerve cells eventually ending in cell death"
Who knew stress was bad for you, eh?
One really has to wait for the study to be published before making any judgements.
However, there have been quite a few promising studies (in both rats and people) showing that antioxidants dramatically reduce the extent of damage to the brain in both diseases of the brain and traumatic brain injury.
Some of the studies I have read indicate that it should be possible to dramatically boost levels of brain antioxidants simply by ingesting antioxidants that are capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier. Compounds such as alpha-lipoic acid (which is both fat- and water-soluble) and curcumin (a component of the popular curry spice turmeric) are cheap, safe, and very powerful antioxidants that have been studied.
From the press release, it sounds like the methods used in the study are pretty invasive expensive. I would like to see more long-term research using widely available antioxidant supplements. Unfortunately, since most medical research is funded by drug companies these days, we aren't likely to see lots of grants going to scientists who want to study non-patentable things like turmeric or vitamin C.
...to stimulate the brain. Pr0n. Next problem, how to desensitize it.
The dangerous free radicals that antioxidants decrease are not simply oxygen, but hydroxyl ions: OH-
A great deal of biochemistry is governed not by stong covalent bonds, but by comparatively weak ionic bonds. You have dozens of different types of ions flowing through your body, all fulfilling different roles.
Unfortunately, ordinary body processes produce ionic waste, such as free radicals. If you have too many free radicals in your bloodstream, they can bond with positive ions that would otherwise interact with other negative ions.
A simple example of ions in your bloodstream is table salt. (There are many types of salt in your body, but everyone understands table salt.) When you eat salt (sodium chloride, NaCl), it dissolves in your body fluids and disassociates into its component ions, Na+ and Cl-. I'm not sure of the numbers; it's been a long time since high school biology, but different ions have different amounts of charge. I'm pretty sure Na+ and Cl- are both single-charge ions.
So antioxidants don't rob your brain of valuable oxygen; they remove a harmful ionic waste product.
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More likely is that years of smoking pot would make this less necessary. The most current research indicates that cannabanoids (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol being chief among them) stimulate processes in the brain that protect against both damage from chronic causes (i.e. Alzheimer's) and acute trauma. A Google search for "Alzheimer's" and "Marijuana" should yield some good starting points. And, pot has the added bonus of probably being much cheaper than any new drug or treatment that the pharmecutical companies are likely to come out with anytime soon. Just remember to fight terrorism and buy domestic.
Fight psychopharmacological mccarthyism. http://www.norml.org/
Why is everyone that suffers some hardship described as "courageous?" Isn't it enough that they suffer the hardship without having to have some kind of character building personal revelation as a result? The next time you see a similar patient described in such a way, think about the question, "Does he have a will to live or a fear of death?"
Does the answer to that question really matter?
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
The body's closed-loop system requires that the ingredients for making the anti-oxidants be available in good quantity. Today's hospitals are not exactly outposts of healthy nutritious food, and regular "allopathic" doctors are not very knowledgeable about nutrition. Last time a relative was in the hospital (my mom), they were serving white bread, processed turkey loaf, and what had to be frozen vegetable bits - your basic CHON food, but devoid of the phytonutrients the fresh fruits and veggies we're told to consume would contain.
In other words, the same results can be obtained from the outside - the antioxidants already available in your food.
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
The abstract is available and the whole article is available for purchase for those interested.
Off topic, but reminds me of the recent research showing that those who smoke nothing but pot have lower lung cancer incidence than those who smoke nothing at all. Although the smoke does do some damage to the lungs, chemicals in it actually are protective - the opposite of the chemical effects from tobacco smoke.
It would be appropriately weird if something that has added so much particularly to the musical culture of the last century has also been the preventer of both brain damage and lung cancer for many thousands of people, just as a side effect.
I know if my back's out badly - which in the theory of many osteopaths restricts the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid and thus puts some pressure on the brain - pot is a great help in thinking more clearly (including thinking about how to get my back better). This would fit with the recent finding that people with recurrent back trouble evidence some brain shrinkage. The question would be: Would people with recurrent back trouble who are regular smokers exhibit less?
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton