I do know for sure that it down regulates an NDMA sub unit that is involved with the sensitization for pain.
( at least in rats )
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/24598217
and here's another study to give it some perspective
http://www.jpain.org...0796-7/abstract
However, I'm no expert but it doesn't seem like every single sub unit of NDMA receptors is going to be decisively influential in determining cognition. Also I read some more rat studies about pain and sarcosine and Sarcosine didn't affect ALL subunits, actually s'far as i know just this one, but I haven't read EVERY single study out there lol.
Looked into it some more here is the wiki article on NR-1
Glutamate [NMDA] receptor subunit zeta-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GRIN1 gene.[1][2]
The protein encoded by this gene is a critical subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, members of the glutamate receptor channel superfamily which are heteromeric protein complexes with multiple subunits arranged to form a ligand-gated ion channel. These subunits play a key role in the plasticity of synapses, which is believed to underlie memory and learning. The gene consists of 21 exons and is alternatively spliced, producing transcript variants differing in the C-terminus. Although the sequence of exon 5 is identical in human and rat, the alternative exon 5 splicing in rat has yet to be demonstrated in human. Cell-specific factors are thought to control expression of different isoforms, possibly contributing to the functional diversity of the subunits.[2]
I have been taking Sarcosine for OCD and this description definitely seems to hold true, maladaptive mechanisms that have made my OCD worse have definitely improved, as if my brain was more readily re-learning more healthy ways to think...but perhaps this is just the way our brains manage learning? You have to learn new things for a certain period to overcome...whatever... but at some point it has to consolidate and become more rigid, less flexible to change? (Thus the down regulation)
Edited by Mnemonicsmoke, 13 October 2014 - 03:13 PM.