But it looks like something someone should be looking into.


1: Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2005 Apr;69(4):800-5.

Oral administration of royal jelly facilitates mRNA expression of glial cell
line-derived neurotrophic factor and neurofilament H in the hippocampus of the
adult mouse brain.

Hashimoto M, Kanda M, Ikeno K, Hayashi Y, Nakamura T, Ogawa Y, Fukumitsu H,
Nomoto H, Furukawa S.

Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu 502-8585,
Japan.

Royal jelly (RJ) is known to have a variety of biological activities toward
various types of cells and tissues of animal models, but nothing is known about
its effect on brain functions. Hence, we examined the effect of oral
administration of RJ on the mRNA expression of various neurotrophic factors,
their receptors, and neural cell markers in the mouse brain. Our results revealed
that RJ selectively facilitates the mRNA expression of glial cell line-derived
neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a potent neurotrophic factor acting in the brain, and
neurofilament H, a specific marker predominantly found in neuronal axons, in the
adult mouse hippocampus. These observations suggest that RJ shows neurotrophic
effects on the mature brain via stimulation of GDNF production, and that enhanced
expression of neurofilament H mRNA is involved in events subsequently caused by
GDNF. RJ may play neurotrophic and/or neuroprotective roles in the adult brain
through GDNF.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum