I bumped into this study recently.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/22451307
Pyruvate prevents the inhibition of the long-term potentiation induced by amyloid-β through protein phosphatase 2A inactivation.
....
We propose that pyruvate could prevent the Aβ-induced inhibition of LTP by the re-autophosphorylation of CaMK2 through PP2A inactivation.
So re-autophosphorylation is a nice long word. What does it mean? Basically that it makes the enzyme work again.
Here's another study about the neuroprotective effects of pyruvate. Lowering intracellular glutamate is an interesting property as well.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/10510185
Pyruvate and lactate protect striatal neurons against N-methyl-D-aspartate-induced neurotoxicity.
...
Pyruvate and L-lactate strongly counteracted the deep decrease in the neuronal ATP content induced by NMDA, indicating that they might protect striatal neurons by rescuing cellular energy charge.
...
The strong accumulation of extracellular glutamate which was found in both sham and NMDA-treated cultures was markedly decreased by pyruvate.
I looked around and didn't see any discussion with regards to nootropic pyruvate supplementation. I know it's a big deal in the athletic community.
