Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Glutathione - Your Brain's Master Antioxidant Defense And Its Role In Brain Injury And Bain Disorders

Free radicals and oxyradicals play an important role in the development and progression of many brain disorders such as brain injury, neurodegenerative disease, schizophrenia and Down syndrome.

Glutathione is the brain's master antioxidant and plays an important protective role in the brain.

According to Dr. Jimmy Gutman, "The brain is particularly susceptible to free radical attack because it generates more oxidative by-products per gram of tissue than any other organ."

Many neurological and psychiatric disease processes are characterized by... abnormalities in glutathione metabolism and antioxidant defenses."

Generation of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and oxidative damage are an important cause of neuron (brain cell) death from brain injury.

Chemicals that cause toxicity to certain brain cells are known to decrease cerebral glutathione (GSH), making the cells more vulnerable to reactive oxygen species (ROS). (1)

On the other hand, over-expression of the glutathione peroxidase (GPX) enzyme potently decreases cell death from brain injury. (2)

Brain Injury and Glutathione - The Gender Difference

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have found that males and females respond differently to brain injury. (3)

In animal models, levels of glutathione remain constant in females who have suffered a brain injury, but drop by as much as 80 percent in males with the same injury.

When glutathione levels drop, brain cells die much more quickly. This suggests that boys with brain injuries may require different life-saving treatments than girls.

N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), a precursor of glutathione, already approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat people who have overdosed on acetaminophen, may be an effective treatment for brain injury in boys whose brains are deprived of oxygen.

Brain Disorders and Glutathione - A Genetic Cause?

Genetics researchers have found that the glutathione S-transferase gene controls the onset of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and determines, not if we get these diseases, but when. (4)

The glutathione S-transferase gene has previously been linked to the risk for Parkinson's disease among people who used pesticides.

A previous article covered the importance of glutathione in Parkinson's Disease.

Alzheimer's Disease and Glutathione

Free radicals and oxidative damage in neurons is known to be a primary cause of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease.

Amyloid-ß peptide (Aß) accumulation in senile plaques, a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), has been implicated in neuronal degeneration.

Amyloid plaques encroaching on the brain increase the production of free radicals, or oxidative stress. Antioxidants, such as vitamin C and E "mop up" the damaging free radicals.

Glutathione (GSH) precursors can prevent death of brain cells induced by amyloid plaques in Alzhiemer's disease, while substances that deplete GSH increase cell death. (5)

Evidence has been piling up over the link between the amount of an amino acid called homocysteine in the blood and the chance of developing Alzheimer's.

For people not genetically predisposed to developing Alzheimer's, cholesterol and homocysteine, largely caused by an unhealthy lifestyle, are the core causal factors.

Welsh GP, Andrew McCaddon, showed that the more homocysteine that patients with Alzheimer's had, the worse their mental performance, and the worse their "cognitive impairment," the less they had of the antioxidant glutathione. (6)

Glutathione and Mood Disorders

Studies have found that the mood stabilizing drug, valproate, used to treat epilepsy and bi-polar disorder, regulates expression of the genes that make glutathione-S-transferase (GST).

In addition, chronic treatment with lithium, another commonly prescribed mood stabilizer used in treating manic-depression, also increased levels of GST.

These findings led researchers to conclude that glutathione S-transferase may be a novel target for mood stabilizing drugs. (7)

Alcohol Consumption and Glutathione

Alcohol abuse is known to impair memory and other brain functions and increase brain cell death. A new study in rats has shown that alchol consumption causes fewer new brain cells to form and results in greater cell death. (8)

But rats that were fed alcohol along with Ebselen - a glutathione peroxidase mimic that acts as a free radical scavenger - showed no similar reduction in brain-cell formation and no increase in cell death.

Substances that Boost Glutathione Levels and Protect Brain Cells

Taking glutathione itself as a supplement does not boost cellular glutathione levels, since it breaks down in the digestive tract before it reaches the cells.

However, intravenous glutathione therapy and glutathione precursors or dietary supplements are effective in boosting intracellular levels of glutathione.

Intravenous Glutathione Injections: Intravenous glutathione injections have been shown to produce amazing and rapid results, in patients with Parkinson's disease. Following even a single dosage of intravenous glutathione, many of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease rapidly improve, often in as little as 15 minutes.

Glutathione Precursors: In the Alzheimer's study conducted by Welsh GP, Andrew McCaddon, adding the glutathione precursor, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) to a protocol that lowered homocysteine levels by simple supplementation with B12 and folate, resulted in prompt, striking, and sustained clinical improvement in nearly all the patients. (9)

Cucurmin (turmeric):Studies have shown that the Indian curry spice, cucurmin, has neuroprotective effects because of its ability to induce the enzyme, hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1), which protects neurons exposed to oxidant stress. Treatment of brain cells called astrocytes, with curcumin, increases expression of HO-1 protein as well as glutathione S-transferase. (10)

Ebselen: Ebselen is a glutathione peroxidase mimic and potent synthetic antioxidant that acts as a neuroprotective agent and an inhibitor of free-radical induced apoptosis (cell death). It can protect brain cells from the neuro-toxic effects of alcohol consumption. (8)

Undenatured Whey Protein: Undenatured whey protein provides glutathione precursors, has been shown to raise intracellular glutathione levels in clinical trials, and has anecdotally been reported to improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

References:
1. Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 88, No. 3, 2004 513-531
2. Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 87, No. 6, 2003 1527-1534
3. Researchers Find Brain Cells Die Differently in Males and Females; Pediatric Academic Societies Press release; 21-Apr-2004
4. Human Molecular Genetics, 2003, Vol. 12, No. 24 3259-3267
5. The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 164, Number 1, 123-131; 5 January 2004
6. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Feb;53(3):254-60
7. Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 88, No. 6, 2004 1477-1484
8. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jun 24;100(13):7919-24. Epub 2003 Jun 05.
9. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003 Mar-Apr;11(2):246-9
10. Can Curry Protect Against Alzheimer's?; American Physiological Society (APS) Press Release; 16-Apr-2004

Copyright © 2004 Priya Shah

This article was first published in the May 2004 issue of The Glutathione Report, a newsletter featuring regular updates on the health benefits of glutathione. Get a Free report on Glutathione in Health and Disease



Get a Free Healthy Brain Nutrition Report , FREE Retrain Your Brain with
brainwave entrainment pdf and Subconscious Mind MP3s, with OPtimize Brain Power 5 Day Ecourse, Articles and excerpts from my IQ Mind Brain Personal Success Library
plus Stay Alerted To New Website Articles, Updates & Breakthroughs all Free at http://www.IQMindBrainLibrary.com


To learn more of programming your subconscious mind , visit my website , get a free MP3 and a free subscription to my Subconscious Mind Power newsletter

http://www.justvisualizeit.net

P.S.
. For Peace, Visit http://www.medjugorje.org/

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Brainwave Entrainment Can Help Keep Brain Sharp and think Faster

Get a Free Healthy Brain Nutrition Report , FREE Retrain Your Brain with
brainwave entrainment pdf and Subconscious Mind MP3s, with OPtimize Brain Power 5 Day Ecourse, Articles and excerpts from my IQ Mind Brain Personal Success Library
plus Stay Alerted To New Website Articles, Updates & Breakthroughs all Free at http://www.IQMindBranLibrary.com


To learn more of programming your subconscious mind , visit my website , get a free MP3 and a free subscription to my Subconscious Mind Power newsletter

http://www.justvisualizeit.net

P.S.
Please visit this Quantum Mind Power Site
and 100% of the promises on this page won't fullty work on head injured but for me and a few close friends , its been remarkable.

visit Quantum Mind Power

P.S. For Peace, Visit http://www.medjugorje.org/

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Over Twenty Years After Gunshot to Head, Now Fighting to Keep My Brain Alive And Healthy

Sure I've been blessed with my early recovery that you can read in my about page and throughout my life. However I am writing today about fighting to keep my brain healthy and functioning normally. The injury to my brain years ago never was healed of course. There was permanent damage to my cognitive functions and of course the hemi-paresis slowing me down. But I've been able to minimize detrimental effects from the damage plus take advantage of the miraculous effects of neuroplasticity improving, regaining and maintaining brain processing and functioning.

However, now my brain is deteriorating with similar effects as though in aging adults. I of course am aging too but the effects are compounded because of the brain damage incurred over two decades ago in my twenties. Dr Amen says, to paraphrase the expert, that brain injured adults have an increased risk of alzeimers and at an earlier age even.

So, I increased my attempts to maintain brain health and fight off the loss of focus and concentration at times, the memory lapses, the sleepiness or fog about the brain and even worse detrimental effects when the weather goes below freezing or drastic changes occur.

I found an anti-aging software for your brain that has been on PBS and even offered as a donation bonus during a Dr Amen special on the brain. It is also great for many of the detrimental effects that occur in head injured as me. Of course, damage in a brain can be different in anyone but all I can tell you in this blog is that it helps me and I know the difference.

You can learn more try out Insight from Posit Science risk free at
http://www.positscience.com/products/cortex/

Note this is not an affiliate link in this posting just the best referenced website for software to help your auditory cortex and other cognitive areas .

Also as you age, because I have a brain injury, I'll exercise my brain on its threshold maybe 5 days per week even earlier then somebody exercising their brain because of aging effects.

In my mid forties , I started using Insight 1/2 HR to an Hour a day and it has worked exceptionally with proof . Metrics in the program are updated in real time during each exercise and give great visuals and stats on your performance over time. Additionally, for me, there is a noticeable decrease in performance in several areas if I go without it for a few months. Although the program does develop permanent improvements too. Note that many normal brains would only require a software as Insight in their 60s or beyond. I've felt the detrimental efects of early brain decay and the fog and no thanks, so I'm optimizing my brain health and my physical health tooo as I age.

To read more on brain health as you age , Optimizing Brain Function in Aging Adults and Methods to Achieving a Better Quality of Life
visit http://stayinghealthyaging.com/brainhealthaging.html


To read more on staying healthy aging , visit
http://www.stayinghealthyaging.com


Also, I love to play brain games online 20 minutes or more 5 days per week.
Visit the IQ Mind Brain Library for many brain tips. I know that because of your injury as mine, not all these tips are feasible but many are, really. You can download all the guides at
http://www.iqmindbrainlibrary.com/info.html

plus you really need to check out what brain training software is available at
http://www.braintrainingsoftware.net





Get a Free Healthy Brain Nutrition Report , FREE Retrain Your Brain wit h
brainwave entrainment pdf and Subconscious Mind MP3s, with OPtimize Brain Power 5 Day Ecourse, Articles and excerpts from my IQ Mind Brain Personal Success Library
plus Stay Alerted To New Website Articles, Updates & Breakthroughs all Free at http://www.IQMindBranLibrary.com


To learn more of programming your subconscious mind , get a free MP3 and a free subscription to my Subconscious Mind Power newsletter

http://www.justvisualizeit.net

P.S.
Please visit this Quantum Mind Power Site
and 100% of the promises on this page won't fullty work on head injured but for me and a few close friends , its been remarkable.

visit Quantum Mind Power

P.S. For Peace, Visit http://www.medjugorje.org/