NeuroBlogs Daily

The tryptophan dosing ingested with the whole red onion diet quite potently stimulates deep sleep & a strong serotonin feel good response . While the screen glare has resolved, I haven’t, as yet, latched firmly on to the targeted neurogenic direction of expected plasticity gains.

Versed readers will recognize the links between my dietary experiment & continuing deep dive into the importance to mental health of brain mitochondria vitality & the benefits of controlled tapping of its grown reserves {I haven’t had a cup of coffee in over 5 years…& black tea is a new menu item]

I am still identifying references & updating notations being cited in the blog I am writing on Polyphenols, Mitochondria, Glial Cells, & Neurodegeneration. If you scan through its draft, my media rich approach to writing such articles will be plain: topic , parameter descriptions & correlations, & avenues of research. Its pace of completion is obviously slowed by ongoing, as currently demonstrated, adjustments to my schedule intended to channel available energy into feature organization & production.

I spent a great deal of time this past week investigating the organic chemistry dynamics of the ACS study Mechanistic Insights into Polyphenols’ Aggregation Inhibition of α-Synuclein and Related Peptides. This study only examined the impact of resveratrol & gallic acid on the aggregation of α-synuclein & its results showed that rather than disrupting α-synuclein aggregation the polyphenols merely became weakening elements of a broadened sheet. Importantly, the narrow scope of this research excluded consideration of whether the toxicity to glial cells of this disease causing protein was lessened & their dutiful activities excited by the studied polyphenols.

Here I am interested in the vitality of glial mitochondria & their susceptiblity to problematic exposure mitophagy which requires having evidence of how the citric acid cycle for its energy production (ATP reservoir on/off switch) is affected by disease conditons.

…. more to come (Creative Commons image uploads await discussion & pairings)

_{Axial section through mid-brain. (Schematic.) (Testut.) 1. Corpora quadrigemina. 2. Cerebral aqueduct. 3. Central gray stratum. 4. Interpeduncular space. 5. Sulcus lateralis. 6. Substantia nigra. 7. Red nucleus of tegmentum. 8. Oculomotor nerve, with 8’, its nucleus of origin. a. Lemniscus (in blue) with a’ the medial lemniscus and a” the lateral lemniscus. b. Medial longitudinal fasciculus. c. Raphé. d. Temporopontine fibers. e. Portion of medial lemniscus, which runs to the lentiform nucleus and insula. f. Cerebrospinal fibers. g. Frontopontine fibers.}

_{Brainstem nuclei involved in human emotion. (A) Sagittal view and (B) Coronal view. DR, Dorsal Raphe; LC, Locus coeruleus; LDT, Laterodorsal tegmental nucleus; Mb, Midbrain; MR, Median raphe; P, Pons; PAG, Periaqueductal gray; PBC, Parabrachial nuclear complex; PPN, Pedunculopontine nucleus; VTA, Ventral tegmental area. The substantia nigra and the nucleus of the tractus solitarius are not shown to optimize visibility of the other structures}.

New Frontiers in Parkinson’s Research and Care 

References

1. Zecca L. et all. Substantia nigra neuromelanin: structure, synthesis, and molecular behaviour. Molecular Pathology 2001 Dec; 54(6): 414–418. 

2. Friedrich et al. Cell specifc quantitative iron mapping on brain slices by immuno-µPIXE in healthy elderly and Parkinson’s disease. Acta Neuropathology Communications 2021 9:47

3. Haddad A et al. Biochemistry, Citric Acid Cycle. StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan

4. Metrani R et al. Comparative Metabolomics Profiling of Polyphenols, Nutrients and Antioxidant Activities of Two Red Onion (Allium cepa L.) Cultivars. Plants (Basel). 2020 Sep; 9(9): 1077.

5. Malpartida A et al. Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Mitophagy in Parkinson’s Disease: From Mechanism to Therapy. Trends in Biochemical Science. 2021 Apr; 46(4): 329-343

6. Festa B et al. Microglial-to-neuronal CCR5 signaling regulates autophagy in neurodegeneration. Neuron. 2023 Apr.

7. Sukhorukov V et al. Impaired Mitophagy in Neurons and Glial Cells during Aging and Age-Related Disorders. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021 Sep 22(19).

8. Wong E et al. Mitophagy Transcriptome: Mechanistic Insights into Polyphenol-Mediated Mitophagy. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. 2017 May.

9. Shields H et al. Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Reactive Oxygen Species on Lifespan: A Comprehensive Review of Comparative and Experimental Studies. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2021 Feb 9.

I am slowly adding 3rd party attributive images to the nedia library here. Also, I don’t expect to post book reviews until July at the earliest. At present, I’m reading Nick Lane’s Transformer. This, of course, has led me to pick up Power, Sex, & Suicide & Vital Questions so that I will have a more comprehensive understanding of his point of view & greater insight into the perspective shared by Joseph LeDoux in the The Deep History of Ourselves.

My approach for this website remains mostly unchanged. I will continue providing links to noteworthy open access brain science & humanities research supplemented by lectures, podcasts, & well-used french & spanish language audio & articles; all of which now wil be stacked on a newest first to best of basis during the week rather than statically archived together on a daily basis. On weekends, in addition, I will variously blog book reviews, article discussions, & lecture highlights.