Does mucuna, by itself, cross the blood brain barrier?

Jon

Muuna is a complex substance made up of dozens of compounds and, as such would not cross the BBB. However, once broken down in the bodythe individual compounds are a different matter abd some would and others wouldn't.

A slightly different question would be, how does mucuna affect the BBB? Does it open it? Close it? If we knew that it might give us a clue to the original question.

You may remember Warren Olanow, the most published neuro in the US and who had his own memory problems cured by a judge in South Africa. Or at least those regarding several million dollars the manganese mining companies had paid him prior to his testifying against those nefarious miners and their claims that their own PD had anything to do with their work.

You may recall that WO et al patented the use of mucuna in treating PD about 2005. The irony of their claiming ownership of a wild plant and a use thousands of years old seemed to escape them. It as my suspicion that they were acting to protect other interests by blocking research and had no interest beyond that. Well, silly me! Was my face red when I ran across this :

http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/7470441.html

Surely the major component of Mucuna Pruriens is levodopa which does cross the BBB.
Ron

Unbelievable! By this I mean the patent that Rick refers to........... and the way it is worded.