Treating ADHD with Neurogenesis
MercuryAX
21 Mar 2014
Hi all,
At some point while reading on this forum, I came across a post that argued that people exhibiting ADHD symptoms don't have abnormal dopamine metabolism, but actually decreased amounts of grey matter. Also, there is research that suggests depression is caused by a reduction in brain tissue, namely the hippocampus (http://www.pnas.org/...9/3908.full.pdf). I think we could approach other problems the same way.
My thought is, couldn't we treat ADHD by increasing nerve growth in the prefrontal cortex and other areas that are affected by "atrophy"?
Perhaps the success people have had with uridine/DHA/choline is relevant. I believe I relieved some anxiety after using uridine for a while, and I'm considering going on it again to treat my terrible attention span and mental hyperactivity/lack of focus. However, I'd like to consider adding noopept or trying Lion's mane to stimulate neurogenesis as well. The problem is targeting the right areas of my brain.
Thoughts?
Edited by MercuryAX, 21 March 2014 - 07:56 AM.
At some point while reading on this forum, I came across a post that argued that people exhibiting ADHD symptoms don't have abnormal dopamine metabolism, but actually decreased amounts of grey matter. Also, there is research that suggests depression is caused by a reduction in brain tissue, namely the hippocampus (http://www.pnas.org/...9/3908.full.pdf). I think we could approach other problems the same way.
My thought is, couldn't we treat ADHD by increasing nerve growth in the prefrontal cortex and other areas that are affected by "atrophy"?
Perhaps the success people have had with uridine/DHA/choline is relevant. I believe I relieved some anxiety after using uridine for a while, and I'm considering going on it again to treat my terrible attention span and mental hyperactivity/lack of focus. However, I'd like to consider adding noopept or trying Lion's mane to stimulate neurogenesis as well. The problem is targeting the right areas of my brain.
Thoughts?
Edited by MercuryAX, 21 March 2014 - 07:56 AM.
BioFreak
22 Mar 2014
I think you're lucky if you even can increase neurogenesis(let alone in specific areas of interest) in any other regions then hippocampus, or to cite wikipedia:
There is the chance that other areas have neurogenesis too, but it is believed that it is so minimal, that it does not really play a difference. May it play a difference with increased neurotrophic factors? Nobody knows. I would not place my hopes in it with existing compounds though.
Going further and wanting to increase neurogenesis in specific areas is difficult from this point of view, you can be lucky if you have a systematic effect (And then probably only in areas that have a higher potential for neurogenesis).
Also, if you are after neurogenesis, forskolin, and serotonin increasing compounds could be worth a look. Seems like anthing that increases cAMP does increase neurogenesis. But forskolin also increases inactive behaviour (in mice) but I found a similar effect on me, in diet dosages.
Also be beware that increased neurogenesis could be leading to memory loss. Children seem to have severe memory loss while their neurogenesis is at it's highest, and ssri's which are shown to increase hippocampus volume have this side effect too.
Curcumin could increase the hippocampus too, that is, if you get a form that actually crosses the bbb into the brain.
While I like uridine for it's antidepressive and anxiety relieving/calming properties, chronic supplementation(with dha and cdp-choline until I found out that I do not react well to cholinergic drugs) did not result in any differences in brain matter that I could feel - meaning symptoms return upon stopping supplementation.
For now I would concentrate on neurogenesis of areas that we can in fact influence, and on neuroprotective measures to avoid further atrophy(c60, lithium, curcumin, making sure that we do not have a neurotransmitter deficit which could cause atrophy in areas relying on a specific neurotransmitter much).
Also, slowing down the accumulation of tau/amyloid or reversing it should be important in that respect too, and could even result in an increase of neurogenesis. -> Lithium, curcumin, ... ? That stuff is a major contributor to brain atrophy, as you can see in brain scans of altzheimers patients.
And lastly, keeping the cells insulin sensitivity makes sure they don't die off due starvation. Which might, in part, explain the effect of training on neurogenesis (less neurons die, the balance shifts towards an increase in neurons). Of course it's not the only mechanism through which training does affect neurogenesis.
Long story short - rebuild the areas we know we can rebuild, and protect the rest of the brain. I think thats our only option for now.
New neurons are continually born throughout adulthood in predominantly two regions of the brain:
- The subventricular zone (SVZ) lining the lateral ventricles, where neural stem cells and progenitor generate new neurons (Neuroblast) that migrate to the olfactory bulb via the rostral migratory stream
- The subgranular zone (SGZ), part of the dentate gyrus of hippocampus.
There is the chance that other areas have neurogenesis too, but it is believed that it is so minimal, that it does not really play a difference. May it play a difference with increased neurotrophic factors? Nobody knows. I would not place my hopes in it with existing compounds though.
Going further and wanting to increase neurogenesis in specific areas is difficult from this point of view, you can be lucky if you have a systematic effect (And then probably only in areas that have a higher potential for neurogenesis).
Also, if you are after neurogenesis, forskolin, and serotonin increasing compounds could be worth a look. Seems like anthing that increases cAMP does increase neurogenesis. But forskolin also increases inactive behaviour (in mice) but I found a similar effect on me, in diet dosages.
Also be beware that increased neurogenesis could be leading to memory loss. Children seem to have severe memory loss while their neurogenesis is at it's highest, and ssri's which are shown to increase hippocampus volume have this side effect too.
Curcumin could increase the hippocampus too, that is, if you get a form that actually crosses the bbb into the brain.
While I like uridine for it's antidepressive and anxiety relieving/calming properties, chronic supplementation(with dha and cdp-choline until I found out that I do not react well to cholinergic drugs) did not result in any differences in brain matter that I could feel - meaning symptoms return upon stopping supplementation.
For now I would concentrate on neurogenesis of areas that we can in fact influence, and on neuroprotective measures to avoid further atrophy(c60, lithium, curcumin, making sure that we do not have a neurotransmitter deficit which could cause atrophy in areas relying on a specific neurotransmitter much).
Also, slowing down the accumulation of tau/amyloid or reversing it should be important in that respect too, and could even result in an increase of neurogenesis. -> Lithium, curcumin, ... ? That stuff is a major contributor to brain atrophy, as you can see in brain scans of altzheimers patients.
And lastly, keeping the cells insulin sensitivity makes sure they don't die off due starvation. Which might, in part, explain the effect of training on neurogenesis (less neurons die, the balance shifts towards an increase in neurons). Of course it's not the only mechanism through which training does affect neurogenesis.
Long story short - rebuild the areas we know we can rebuild, and protect the rest of the brain. I think thats our only option for now.
sponsored ad
