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In this clip, Dr. Roland Griffiths discusses the reorganizational effects that psychedelic experiences have on the brain and their potential use in treating mental disorders.
Science on refined sugar: mortality, aging, brain function, memory, neuroinflammation, cancer, sex hormones, addiction & more.
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In this clip, Dr. Roland Griffiths discusses the reorganizational effects that psychedelic experiences have on the brain and their potential use in treating mental disorders.
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Science on refined sugar: mortality, aging, brain function, memory, neuroinflammation, cancer, sex hormones, addiction & more.
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From linked article:
The researchers gave the monkeys a two-bottle choice between water and ethanol, and administered one group an analog of FGF21 to see what effect it had. Sure enough, the test monkeys drank 50 percent less alcohol than the control group. Similar tests in mice also saw a 50-percent reduction in alcohol consumption after being given either human FGF21 or an analog. Interestingly though, the mice and monkeys still chose the ethanol just as often as before, but they drank far less each time.
Fibroblast growth factor 21 happens to be modulated by aerobic exercise:
In a new study published in the scientific Journal of Clinical Investigation – Insight, the researchers show that cardio training on an exercise bike causes three times as large an increase in the production of the hormone FGF21 than strength training with weights. FGF21 has a lot of positive effects on metabolism.
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BDNF genetic variant predicts success in alcohol dependence treatment. www.sciencedaily.com
Alcohol dependence is a complex disorder that increases a person’s risk of death from all causes. Findings from a 2009 study suggest that variations in certain genes can impact the likelihood of relapsing following treatment.
BDNF is involved in neuronal growth and survival, as well as influencing neurotransmitters – chemical signals from the nervous system. Low BDNF levels have been linked to the development of depression, anxiety, and alcohol dependence.
Previous research has demonstrated that alcohol dependence has a genetic component. The current study investigated whether common variations in certain genes would have an effect on post-treatment relapse.
The prospective study involved 154 participants who met the criteria for alcohol dependence and were admitted to a treatment facility. The patients provided blood samples for genetic analysis and completed self-assessment questionnaires about depression, hopelessness, impulsivity, and the severity of their alcohol use. The authors followed up with participants for approximately one year to assess whether they had relapsed. Relapse was defined as any drinking during the observation period, with heavy drinking considered as more than four drinks per day for more than four consecutive days. During the follow-up period, 59 (48 percent) participants relapsed, with 48 returning to heavy drinking. The average time to relapse was 218 days.
The authors tested a genetic variant that resides in the BDNF gene, known as Val66Met. They observed that participants with the Val form of this gene were more likely to relapse compared to those with the Met version. Participants with two copies of the Val allele – one from each parent – had higher rates of relapse and shorter times to relapse when compared to carriers of at least one Met allele.
These findings suggest that BDNF influences a person’s ability to remain abstinent following treatment for alcohol dependence. With further evaluation, these findings may help clinicians to identify people at increased risk for post-treatment relapse and tailor their care plans.
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Brain-derived neurotrophic factor may be able to disrupt cocaine-seeking when applied directly to the nucleus accumbens in the brain [animal research] www.sciencedaily.com
From the article:
Cocaine relapse was significantly reduced in a preclinical model when brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) was applied to the nucleus accumbens deep in the brain immediately before cocaine-seeking behavior, report investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in an article published online in June 2018 by Addiction Biology.
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While other research groups have studied how BDNF administration affects drug self-administration and relapse, no one has looked at what happens if BDNF is given immediately before relapse.
Since low serum BDNF levels are seen in cocaine-dependent patients compared to non-addicts, the MUSC researchers sought to better understand the connection between BDNF and cocaine relapse. The nucleus accumbens was selected as the focal point for BDNF administration since it is a central component of the brain reward circuit.
“An important aspect of this study is that while others have shown that BDNF is important for establishing the state of addiction, we find that can also be used to reverse addiction,” says Peter Kalivas, Ph.D., professor and chair in the Department of Neuroscience. “This exemplifies that the primary effect of BDNF is to promote changes in the brain, and that this capacity to change the brain contributes to how people get addicted, but also can be harnessed to remove brain pathologies such as drug addiction.”
The findings reported in Addiction Biology are the first to show that applying BDNF to the nucleus accumbens immediately before the reinstatement phase, when the rats are once again seeking cocaine due to cue exposure, greatly reduces relapse.