Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Nov 11
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19913065
Cystamine prevents MPTP-induced toxicity in young adult mice via the
up-regulation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
Gibrat C, Bousquet M, Saint-Pierre M, Levesque D, Calon F, Rouillard C,
Cicchetti F.
Centre de Recherche du CHUL (CHUQ), Axe neurosciences, 2705 Boulevard
Laurier, Quebec, QC, Canada G1V 4G2.

Preclinical data suggest that cystamine stands as a promising
neuroprotective agent against Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases. To
decipher the mechanisms of action of cystamine, we investigated the
effects of various doses of cystamine (10, 50, and 200mg/kg) on the
regulation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), its receptor
tropomyosin-receptor-kinase B (TrkB) and on the heat shock protein 70
(Hsp70) brain mRNA expression in relation to the time after
administration. We have determined that the lower cystamine dose is the
most efficient to promote putative neuroprotective effects. Indeed, an
acute administration of 10mg/kg of cystamine increased the expression of
BDNF mRNA in the substantia nigra compacta (SNc), although it did not
significantly influence TrkB or Hsp70 mRNA. Higher cystamine doses
resulted in the absence of activation of any of these markers or led to
non-specific effects. We have also substantiated the neuroprotective
effect of a 21-day treatment of 10mg/kg/day of cystamine in young adult
mice against MPTP-induced loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-striatal fiber
density, nigral dopamine cells and nigral Nurr1 mRNA expression. The
neuroprotective action of cystamine in the same animals was associated
with an up-regulation of BDNF in the SNc. Taken together, these results
strengthen the neuroprotective potential of cystamine in the treatment
of Parkinson's disease and point towards the up-regulation of BDNF as an
important mechanism of action.


PMID: 19913065


Med Hypotheses. 2006;67(5):1185-8. Epub 2006 Jun 22.


Cysteamine-related agents could be potential antidepressants through
increasing central BDNF levels.
Tsai SJ.
Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan;
Division of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming
University, Taiwan.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental disease, but with an
unknown etiology. Antidepressants are the main biological treatment for
MDD. However, current antidepressive agents have a slow onset of effect
and a substantial proportion of MDD patients do not clinically improve,
despite maximal medication. Thus, the exploration for new
antidepressants with novel strategies may help to develop faster and
more effective antidepressant agents. Studies in the recent decades have
demonstrated that antidepressants increase central brain-derived
neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and activating the BDNF-signaling
pathway may play an important role in their therapeutic mechanism.
Cysteamine is a natural product of cells and constitutes the terminal
region of the CoA molecule. Recent work has found that cysteamine and a
related agent, cystamine, have neuroprotective effects in Huntington's
disease (HD) mice, through enhancing central BDNF levels. Furthermore,
cystamine or cysteamine injection could increase serum BDNF levels in
wild-type mice as well as HD mice. Since activation of the
BDNF-dependent pathway plays an important role in the mechanism of
antidepressant therapeutic action, cystamine or its derivatives could
have potential antidepressant therapeutic effects. Among these agents,
pantethine may be one of the most promising agents. It is a naturally
occurring compound which can be administered orally with negligible side
effects, and is metabolized to cysteamine. Further evaluation of the
therapeutic and toxic effects of these cysteamine-related antidepressant
agents in MDD animal models is needed before any clinical application.
PMID: 16797865

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16797865

Pantethine is an activated form of Vitamin B 5 .

Pardon my ignorance, but I am assuming that by 10mg/kg per day means that 10 mg is taken for every 2.2 lbs. we weight? Sorry I've always been quite bad with scientific nomenclature.

Thank you for sharing this

Laura

Yes, Laura, your calculation is correct, though note in the abstract that is the dosage for cystamine, not pantethine.madelyn