Music is good for the brain

Dementia,Epilepsy,Neuroprotectors,Parkinson's — Tags: , — 11:00 am

The study conducted by researchers at McGill University in Montreal and published in January 2011 issue of Nature Neuroscience showed that the music increased dopamine levels in certain areas of the brain. Various types of music were shown to be effective depending on individual preferences. (1). On the other hand, dopamine is crucial in the brain system of movement organization, deficiencies of brain cells producing dopamine, as we know, result in Parkinson’s disease, and the only reliable method of treatment is the L-DOPA medication having severe side effects and gradually losing its efficiency as the disease progresses.

Other studies revealed that music (e.g., exposure to Mozart’s music) can decrease the blood pressure in hypertensive patients and even experimental animals. Increased dopamine levels improve dopaminergic neurotransmission in epilepsy (2), dementia (3), and ADHD (4).

The beneficial effects of music are thought to work through brain structures involved in reward processing including the nucleus accumbens* and the ventral tegmental area**, hypothalamus*** and insula****

Sources

1. Music – it does a body and mind good, Baxterbulletin.com

2. Brain Res. Rev. 25 (1997), pp. 1–26

3. Exp. Aging Res., Volume 27, Issue 3 July 2001 , pp. 215 – 228

4. J. Learn. Disabil. 29 (1996), pp. 238–246

Footnotes

* also known as “center of motivation”

** a component of the reward pathway in the brain

*** a very important brain area responsible for many bodily functions as well as instincts for basic survival, fight or flight, mating, eating, and drinking, etc.

**** linked to emotions, perception, motor control, self-awareness, cognitive functioning, and interpersonal experience.

Memory impairment, hippocampal atrophy, and the 10,000 steps a day rule.

Brain metabolism,Dementia,Energy Substrates,Neuroprotectors — 5:34 am

Twenty-five percent of individuals over 65 years of age have sufficient cognitive problems, short of dementia, to affect the quality of their lives (1, 2). The ability to learn consciously and recall new information, which is known as recent or declarative memory, is one of the areas most affected during aging. However, our knowledge about the medical factors that predispose a person to age-associated cognitive problems remains undeveloped.

After the age of 65, a quarter of otherwise normal, healthy people have memory problems serious enough to affect their quality of life. Learning and memorizing new information is the most prominent cognitive deficit in these people. Is there anything that can be done to prevent and/or to improve this condition?

First, it’s important to know what changes in elderly people’s brain and metabolism and how these changes are different in the 25% of those having poorer memories and those that retain robust learning and memory capacity.

  • They have glucose intolerance
  • Their brain region responsible for new memory processing, hippocampus, shrinks according to MRI
  • The delivery of metabolic substrates to the hippocampus is compromised

What can be done?

There are at least two things that should be kept in mind:

1. The 10,000 steps a day does work. In one study, at the background level, participants made average 5,000 steps a day. During the experiment, they were instructed to increase their daily walking (cumulative) to 10,000 steps — and after 4 weeks, not only their glucose tolerance improved, but their blood pressure normalized.

2. Get enough sleep. Reduced sleep duration is associated with glucose intolerance especially when combined with physical inactivity and overeating.

More on brain aging and NDD prevention at Ageless Brain (click to read)

Sources

Unverzagt F et. al., Neurology. 2001;57:1655–1662.

Convit A et. al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2003, v.100(4); Feb 18

Swartz A et. al., Prev Med. 2003 Oct;37(4):356-62

Nedeltcheva A et al., J Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2009, Vol. 94, No. 9 3242-3250

The MMM of aging: mood, memory, movement

Alzheimer's,Dementia,Neurodegenerative diseases,Neuroprotectors,Parkinson's — Tags: , , , , — 6:55 am

“Thinking, Moving, Feeling”: What Do They Have in Common?

This question opens a review of age-related declines, their inter-relationships, mechanisms, and the ways to postpone if not avoid them. The authors discuss the occurrence of depression and mood disorders during normal, premature or pathological aging, reminding that the usual suspects – serotonin and norepinephrine – indeed decline as people age as well as in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (A, Granholm et al., Mood, Memory and Movement: An Age-Related Neurodegenerative Complex? Curr Aging Sci. 2008 July ; 1(2): 133–139.)

(more…)

On the mechanisms of brain protection by ketones

Dementia,Excitatory GABA,Ketogenic diet,Ketone bodies,Neuroprotectors — Tags: , , , , , , , , — 8:17 am

Neuronal activity in immature neocortical neurons depends on the availability of ketone bodies in ACSF

The provoking findings of Rheims et al. suggest that an important caveat of previous electrophysiological experiments is that they were carried out with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) added with energy sources that can only be metabolized through glycolytic pathways (e.g. glucose).

The provoking findings of Rheims et al. suggest that an important caveat of previous electrophysiological experiments is that they were carried out with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) added with energy sources that can only be metabolized through glycolytic pathways (e.g. glucose).

Researchers studied how naturally occurring ketones influenced activity of brain cells during development. They showed that a shortage of ketones caused pathological changes in brain cells resulting in abnormal behavior of GABA, the principal brain chemical helping to resist hyperactivity. It was repeatedly reported earlier that, normally working as a “break pedal”, GABA did not do the job in the immature brain and acted as a “gas pedal” instead. To imagine the devastating consequences, picture a car having two gas pedals and no brakes.

To make things worse, the energy deficit during hyperactivity is usually combined with increased energy demands thus starting a vicious circle — demands/deficit/demands — a well known feature of many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, encephalopathies, dementia, or multiple sclerosis. For many of them, the ketogenic diet was shown to be of a significant help. In the new article, the French and UK researchers offered an explanation. When there was enough of ketone bodies, GABA displayed its natural “break” properties and parameters of brain cells were also normal — as it happens in real life, in real animals and babies.

Researchers suggest that sufficient supply of appropriate brain fuels can break the vicious circle and prevent brain’s hyper-excitation. They now look into other natural energy substrates possibly having greater potential as a “diet in a bottle” than the costly ketones while being as efficient as the overly-stringent ketogenic diet.

Source: J Neurochem. 2009 Aug;110(4):1330-8. Epub 2009 Jun 22. GABA action in immature neocortical neurons directly depends on the availability of ketone bodies. Rheims S, Holmgren CD, Chazal G, Mulder J, Harkany T, Zilberter T, Zilberter Y.

To make things worse, the energy deficit during hyperactivity is usually combined with increased energy demands thus starting a vicious circle — demands/deficit/demands — a well known feature of many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, encephalopathies, dementia, or multiple sclerosis. For many of them, the ketogenic diet was shown to be of a significant help. In the new article, the French and UK researchers offered an explanation. When there was enough of ketone bodies, GABA displayed its natural “break” properties and parameters of brain cells were also normal — as it happens in real life, in real animals and babies.

Researchers suggest that sufficient supply of appropriate brain fuels can break the vicious circle and prevent brain’s hyper-excitation. They now look into other natural energy substrates possibly having greater potential as a “diet in a bottle” than the costly ketones while being as efficient as the overly-stringent ketogenic diet.Source: J Neurochem. 2009 Aug;110(4):1330-8. Epub 2009 Jun 22.

GABA action in immature neocortical neurons directly depends on the availability of ketone bodies. Rheims S, Holmgren CD, Chazal G, Mulder J, Harkany T, Zilberter T, Zilberter Y.

http://starturl.com/GAGA-ketones

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