Little old men are best listened to...

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.

PMID: 15849420 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]