From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon May 05 2003 - 16:38:19 MDT
Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> The idea of selective GABA enhancement is interesting,
> however. Glutamate antagonists do have some neuroprotective
> effects, so it's conceivable that pushing the GABA/glutamate
> balance towards GABA with some selective GABA agonists could
> help. Definitely worth investigating.
I addressed this topic indirectly in one of the diet threads a few weeks
ago. I had remarked that ketogenic (Atkins-style) diets starve the brain of
its much loved glucose. Anders remarked that glucose is helpful for memory
and wondered about the effects of ketones on brain function. I then posted
an abstract of a study showing that ketones up-regulate GABA and
downregulate aspartate. I mentioned that GABA tends to dull the mind, but
that on the upside, aspartate is an NMDA receptor agonist (in essentially
the same way as is glutamate), so if upregulation of GABA from ketones leads
to downregulation of aspartate then it could have neuroprotective
properties.
As the brain ages, glial cells become less efficient in protecting neurons
from injury from excitatory amino acids like glutamate and aspartate. Back
in '99 I wrote a fairly in-depth article about this subject as it pertains
to the dubious practice of ingesting daily megadoses of glutamate's
immediate precursor glutamine. The article stirred up quite a controversy,
and even set me at heated public odds with LEF, which sells glutamine as a
life-extension supplement and whose primary spokesman at the time was a
proponent of megadoses of glutamine for purposes of stimulating release of
growth hormone from the pituitary. That article of mine is still posted at
www.optexinc.com/glutaminerisks.htm. I would be interested in your opinions,
Rafal.
-gts
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