Posted on 11/07/2022 8:57:01 PM PST by ConservativeMind
"Do differences in metabolites in the brain affect our capacity for motivation?" asks Professor Carmen Sandi. "Could nutritional interventions that can affect metabolite levels be an effective vehicle to improve motivated performance?"
Sandi's group published a study that shines light into answering that question. The researchers focused on an area deep into the brain called the "nucleus accumbens."
The brain is often subjected to excessive oxidative stress from its neurometabolic processes—and the question for the researchers was whether antioxidant levels in the nucleus accumbens can affect motivation. To answer the question, the scientists looked at the brain's most important antioxidant, a protein called glutathione (GSH), and its relationship to motivation.
"We assessed relationships between metabolites in the nucleus accumbens—a key brain region—and motivated performance," says Sandi.
What they found was that higher levels of GSH in the nucleus accumbens correlated with better and steady performance in the motivation tasks.
But correlation does not imply causation, so the team moved on to live experiments with rats that were given micro-injections of a GSH blocker, downregulating the synthesis and levels of the antioxidant. The rats now showed less motivation, as seen in a poorer performance in effort-based, reward-incentivized tests.
On the contrary, when the researchers gave rats a nutritional intervention with the GSH precursor N-acetylcysteine—which increased GSH levels in the nucleus accumbens—the animals performed better. The effect was "potentially mediated by a cell-type specific shift in glutamatergic inputs to accumbal medium spiny neurons," as the authors write.
"N-acetylcysteine, the nutritional supplement that we gave in our study can also be synthesized in the body from its precursor cysteine," says Sandi. "Cysteine is contained in 'high-protein foods', such as meat, chicken, fish or seafood."
"Our study represents a proof of principle that dietary N-acetylcysteine can increase brain GSH levels and facilitate effortful behavior."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Nestle helped support this study and sells GlyNAC, a combination of the two, in equal amounts.
However, you can buy the two amino acids very cheaply and make GlyNAC for yourself.
Look of some of the amazing things it can do in the other GlyNAC studies I’ve posted. Search by title or keyword.
I’ve always wondered if my daily NAC mediated a specific shift in glutamatergic inputs to the accumbal medium of my spiny neurons. Now I know.
“Oxidative stress???”
Huh??? Oh! Rust never sleeps!
Saw that tour. Good show!
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