11 replies to this topic

[thedevinroy]

Bacopa Monnieri, the popular nootropic herb shows promise to treat Parkinson's Disease by...

• Reducing alpha synuclein aggregation in preventing amyloid deposits (good for Alzheimer's Disease, too).
• Prevent dopamine degredation: a neuroprotective dopaminergic.
• Restores lipid content in nematodes. Not sure of the significance, but I suspect a correlation with the myelin sheathe reconstruction.

Link to Below Summary: http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/21925152

Anti-Parkinsonian effects of Bacopa monnieri: Insights from transgenic and pharmacological Caenorhabditis elegans models of Parkinson's disease.

Neurodegenerative Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with aggregation of protein alpha synuclein and selective death of dopaminergic neurons, thereby leading to cognitive and motor impairment in patients. The disease has no complete cure yet; the current therapeutic strategies involve prescription of dopamine agonist drugs which turn ineffective after prolonged use. The present study utilized the powerful genetics of model system Caenorhabditis elegans towards exploring the anti-Parkinsonian effects of a neuro-protective botanical Bacopa monnieri. Two different strains of C. elegans; a transgenic model expressing "human" alpha synuclein [NL5901 (P(unc-54)::alphasynuclein::YFP+unc-119)], and a pharmacological model expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) specifically in the dopaminergic neurons [BZ555 (P(dat-1)::GFP)] treated with selective catecholaminergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxy dopamine (6-OHDA), were employed for the study. B. monnieri was chosen for its known neuroprotective and cognition enhancing effects. The study examined the effect of the botanical, on aggregation of alpha synuclein, degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, content of lipids and longevity of the nematodes. Our studies show that B. monnieri reduces alpha synuclein aggregation, prevents dopaminergic neurodegeneration and restores the lipid content in nematodes, thereby proving its potential as a possible anti-Parkinsonian agent. These findings encourage further investigations on the botanical, and its active constituent compounds, as possible therapeutic intervention against Parkinson's disease.

Thoughts?

[MrHappy]

Interesting. Seems to suggest usefulness as a preventative more than any other effect. Any in vivo studies planned, I wonder?

Are you researching PD in particular?

[thedevinroy]

In vivo studies in the elderly have shown it improved quality of life. I imagine a small sample had Parkinson's, but there's no telling if it was never mentioned. This study just came out last month, so I bet there will be studies in the future in vivo for Parkinson's if the company sponsoring decides its profitable to pursue this research.

I am not studying Parkinson's in particular. I just found it interesting partly because it was a recent study, just last month, and not mentioned on these forums yet. It is the first thing that I've seen that has shown Bacopa as neuroprotective of dopaminergic systems. I knew about the amyloid deposits, and I suspected it of use to lipid membrane quality since it is an antioxidant. Dopamine is a strange topic with Bacopa... lowers it sometimes while raising it at others. Perhaps that is the mechanism of neuroprotection?

I do find Parkinson's and Alzheimers interesting. The latter runs in the family, while the former I find many drugs and supplements which overlap potential with ADHD treatment. I always therefore make it a point to make sure that while helping my ADHD, I do not inadvertently cause damage to my dopaminergic pathways and end up with early Parkinson's. For instance, the MAO-B enzyme cannot be overworked or else DOPAC (or DOPAL?) will raise in levels and damage dopamine receptors. Thus, when taking COMT inhibitors, it is also important to take an MAO-B inhibitor or to find a supplement that does both.

[MrHappy]

It's also a specific topic of interest for me for very similar reasons. Have you seen the links to HSV-1,2?

Also of interest was that link posted by Tham the other day about repairing and replacing neurons with alpha-gpc, uridine and dha plus results/implications for neurodegenerative diseases? I shuffled off and ordered a large supply

[thedevinroy]

Uridine is definitely going to pop up more as a nootropic.

[MrHappy]

$50 for 25g on ebay..

[chrono]

Thanks for posting that article, devin! Very interesting stuff...DA neuroprotection is important, especially for us ADD kids. Too bad bacopa makes me feel like a zombie, but I may return to the question of whether there's a difference between brands, in light of this research.

[thedevinroy]

Thanks for posting that article, devin! Very interesting stuff...DA neuroprotection is important, especially for us ADD kids. Too bad bacopa makes me feel like a zombie, but I may return to the question of whether there's a difference between brands, in light of this research.

Have you tried taking a single dose before bed?

[chrono]

Have you tried taking a single dose before bed?

Yeah, about a year and a half ago I tried different approaches to dosing for almost a month. Even after 3 weeks of nearly-continuous nightly dosing, I would still wake up groggy after 11-12 hours of sleep.

I calculated that the slight cognitive benefits were probably not worth the effort (and extra sleep) necessary in figuring out how to avoid these side effects, but this research makes me think further experimentation is in order.

[thedevinroy]

Have you tried taking a single dose before bed?

Yeah, about a year and a half ago I tried different approaches to dosing for almost a month. Even after 3 weeks of nearly-continuous nightly dosing, I would still wake up groggy after 11-12 hours of sleep.

I calculated that the slight cognitive benefits were probably not worth the effort (and extra sleep) necessary in figuring out how to avoid these side effects, but this research makes me think further experimentation is in order.

It aint for everybody I guess. That stuff dumps a lot of serotonin into the blood stream for some more than others. Plus, it might decrease methylation... which would be good for Multiple Sclerosis but bad for ADHD.

[MrHappy]

I've enjoyed much more lucid dreams and better sleep while on bacopa.

[amark]

swansonsvitamins.com carries 2 different versions of barcopa reasonably priced. I have found them to be reliable. I get zero from them for this suggestion. Also if you do a seach for Swansons coupons one can often find discount codes which often work. Good luck