"The authors discovered that mice lacking PKR in the brain have a kind of "super" memory."
http://www.scienceda...11208125716.htm
"through a test in which mice use visual cues for finding a hidden platform in a circular pool, they found that normal mice had to repeat the task multiple times over many days in order to remember the platform's location. By contrast, mice lacking PKR learned the task after only one training session."
There have been few drugs discovered that inhibit PKR(such as C16 or PKRi), but it's too expensive for common people, so I searched for possible inhibitors of PKR that come from herbs.
Here's what I've found:
A substance called Shikonin can inhibit the PKR pathway
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/17360831
"our findings suggest that shikonin may achieve differential modulation of cytokine protein expression through inactivation of the PKR pathway"
Shikonin comes from an herb called Zi Cao (Purple Gromwell)
So, does this mean that Zi Cao can be considered a nootropic? Is this herb potent enough for cognitive enhancement? Are super doses necessary for an effect? And if so, what are the side effects?
I've been taking small amounts of Zi Cao, which I ordered from amazon. But I don't notice any effect. I'm not comfortable with taking super doses, since there are a ton of different chemicals in one herb. Maybe there's some way to extract the shikonin? That might be a little out of my league though.
Please leave serious responses. I'm not interested in cheesy comments or jokes.