7 replies to this topic

[Lobotomy]

The Amygdala is the 'other' part of your brain responsible for memory formation besides the hippocampus.

 

In people with Borderline Personality Disorder, the Amygdala is smaller, but more active than the neurotypical. Thought that was interesting.

 

I've read a few articles stating that Overexpression of BDNF + Stress = Neurodegeneration. I don't have a lot of stress in my life anymore, and I'm wondering if somehow supplementing my Amygdala is something that is currently possible, like NSI-189 is to the hippocampus, but not necessarily as powerful as NSI. My memory is poor as hell and I am not sure if my hippocampus is 100% to blame. Are there any racetams or neuropeptides, or what have you, that will either grow or protect the Amygdala, specifically, or in conjunction with other parts of the brain?

 

EDIT: Looks like 7,8 Dihydroxiflavone just might: http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/22710915

 

EDIT 2: Can this be moved to Brain Health, please?

Edited by Lobotomy, 31 May 2014 - 03:29 PM.

[Ekscentra]

Perhaps not exactly along the lines of what you're looking for, but it's the closest thing I could find. Unfortunately, I seem to be unable to post links at the moment, presumably due to my lack of posts, but there was a study on Cerebrolysin attenuating neuronal abnormalities in the basolateral amygdala. It's not exact, but it's a start. I was looking into the exact same thing, due to my Aspergers (based on reliable studies, individuals with Aspergers tend to have a markedly smaller amygdala than most individuals. Given this, I imagine increasing the size of the amygdala would alleviate most of the social issues associated with my condition. If anyone else manages to find anything, I'll be watching this thread. A substance capable of inducing neurogenesis in the amygdala would be invaluable to me - truly, it would be the holy grail nootropic for me personally. I hope this post was at least mildly helpful, Lobotomy. It seems there isn't nearly enough information regarding these types of substances around to think of any other promising agents for this purpose. If nothing else, Cerebrolysin has been shown effective for Aspergers. Although it's not Borderline Personality Disorder, the two do share some (vague) neurological similarities. I managed to find another interesting bit of information regarding this topic in particular, but it seems to have slipped my mind. If I find anything, I'll be sure to post here again. Whether this is purely out of hypothetical interest or a genuine need for such a substance, or even both, I wish you the best of luck in your journey, Lobotomy, and let us hope more interest will be generated for this type of substance in the near future. It would be of great help to me, and many others like me, different "disorder" or not.

[Jochen]

My limited understanding is hat the Amygdala has a bit of an inverse relationship with the Hippocampus.

 

So for executive functioning and longterm memory a larger hippocampus would be better.

 

Amygdala is good for memory imprints that have to do with sense (like smell).

Having a larger Amygdala would probably reduce the size of your hippocampus and create more of fight-or-flight reflexes.

 

I assume that what happens is that when you have your fight-or-flight stimulus, you raise your cortisol level. This actually can kill the cells in the hippocampus when this happens.

If you are then having more and more of these fight/flight reflexes, your amygdala is probably stimulated and grows.

 

anecdotal evidence from my side is that my learning capacity has increase by using bionasal LLT which stimulates neurgenesis in the hippocampus.

this has increase my capacity to handle stress and reduced my fight-flight responses.

 

That said, if you are really having a very small amygdala, maybe you could train it by using memory-odor stimulae?

A study like this comes to mind: http://www.christoff...-et-al-2007.pdf

My assumption is that this kind of thing would stimulate the amygdala, but it could be worthwhile to write to this researcher.

 

Please take my statement with a bit of salt as I am in no way an expert in this field.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Edited by Jochen, 16 June 2014 - 06:24 PM.

[Lobotomy]

I personally have no idea if my Amygdala is atypical, I just want to have documentation for people who may have BPD or other disorders that affect that part of the brain. I'm not going to experiment on myself with this stuff unless I know that's where the problem lies, however, as my unquenchable thirst for CNS knowledge dictates, I want to have a comprehensive understanding of the whole shebang, as well as have permanent documentation on what works where.

[Rebecca McDonald Rinker]

Hi just caught your thread when looking up BDNF. I have a genetic mutation which unfortunately lowers this brain chemical for me. My question for you is have you had your genetic profile done? I went through 23 and me and had my raw genetic profile done then ran it through Prometheus which gave me my health information. After finding out I had several mutations in which regulate my neurotransmitters and other brain chemicals, depression, fatigue etc etc etc, I ran it through Nutrahacker which explained what I can do to help myself by fine tuning my supplements. Turns out I have methylation problems and need to take other forms of B12 versus the most widely used form. basically I had no stores. Ditto with vit. D. Anyway the reason I say this is It has already helped me immensly. You not sleeping well and that in itself will totally screw up your memory. Been there. Irish and Scottish people have huge genetic tendencies toward depression, autoimmune issues, addictions, and paranoid schizophrenia. Best to find out what your particular genotype/ phenotype needs and start there. I finally have hope that I can do something to help myself. Check out methylcobalamin vs cyanocobalmin (B12 forms), folate, B6. I am finally feeling hopeful! It is finally making sense. Good Luck!     

[Flex]

Hm, I´m at the moment rather looking for something that is bad for the Amygdala..Nevermind.

 

- So, Bacopa is supposedly good for the Amygdala.

 

- Afaik, 5-ht2a (and maybe 5-ht2c?) inhibitors, decrease the most the activation of the Amygdala

followed by Beta Adrenergic receptors and maybe Dopamine.

Thc too, but for my experience it is highly anxiogenic

 

Perhaps this would help You:

 

Evidence for the substantia nigra pars compacta as an essential component of a memory system independent of the hippocampal memory system

Memory is markedly impaired when normal activity of any of a number of cerebral structures is disturbed after a learning experience. A growing body of evidence indicates, however, that such interference with neuronal function becomes negligible when the learning experience is significantly enhanced. We now report on the effects of enhanced training on retention after temporary inactivation of cerebral nuclei known to be involved in memory, namely the substantia nigra (SN), striatum (STR), and amygdala (AMY). When training was conducted with a relatively low intensity of footshock (1.0 mA), post-training infusion of lidocaine into the SN, STR, or AMY produced a marked memory deficit. Increasing the aversive stimulation to 2.0 mA protected memory from the amnesic effect of intranigral lidocaine, but there was still a deficit after its infusion into the STR and AMY. Administration of lidocaine into each of these nuclei, in the groups that had been trained with 3.0 mA, was completely ineffective in producing alterations in memory consolidation. Simultaneous infusion of lidocaine into STR + SN, AMY + SN, or AMY + STR was also ineffective in altering memory formation when the highest footshock intensity was used for training. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that an enhanced learning experience guards against memory deficits after simultaneous temporary interruption of neural activity of brain nuclei heretofore thought to be necessary for memory formation. These findings support the proposition that brain structures involved in memory processing are functionally connected in series during memory consolidation and that, after an enhanced learning experience, these structures become functionally connected in parallel.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/12676522

[Nemo888]

I had some amygdala issues(hypervigilance and volatility) from the army. Best way to alleviate them (other than being released from the army) I found was thymosin beta 4 and human growth hormone. I have long sought the holy grail of improving memory after mild brain injury. I also have had no success.

[Flex]

Sry to hear that.

Have You tried Cerebrolysin ?

I know, it´s not a panacea but sometimes worth a try.

If You did allready so, could You describe the effect differences of Thymosine and Cerebrolysin or a comparsion.

Because I´m kind of interrested in thymosine.

But because I would cross the law, if I´m ordering this. I wanted to know if its worth somewhat.

Edited by Flex, 20 June 2014 - 11:23 PM.