Hello,
I haven't posted here in awhile but keeping to my theme of providing info on neuroprotection, here is a recent paper from Dr. Hong's group at the NIH on Reservatol. It's the stuff found in red wine and grape skins. Their testing shows it protects dopamine neurons from microglial inflammation which is thought to be a cause of PD. I can't figure out how much a human would have to take for resveratol to be neuroprotective but the stuff is readily available and may be worth taking. I don't expect the drug companies to be doing the clinical trials on resveratol, no money to be made.
I am still taking my LDN, it's about 6? years now. I believe I have progressed but my main problem is lack of sleep, I seem to feel stiff? in bed. I am trying not to take too much Mirapex and Sinemet for fear of dyskinesia. Does anyone else have this problem?
Ashley



http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/78/3/466.full

Furthermore, we found that resveratrol showed potent inhibitory effects on LPS-induced production of NO, TNFα, and IL-1β in neuron-glia cultures. These findings agree with the previous studies in which resveratrol inhibited LPS-induced production of these three proinflammatory factors in primary microglia or microglial cell lines. Of the numerous neurotoxic factors released by activated microglia, the consequences of production of NO, TNFα, and ROS have been relatively well studied. In addition, increased levels of cytokines such as TNFα, IL-1β, and interferon-γ have been demonstrated in the substantia nigra of patients with PD. Hence, the inhibition of the accumulation of these proinflammatory factors conferred resveratrol-mediated significant neuroprotection on DA neurons.
In summary, our study has demonstrated that resveratrol protects DA neurons against LPS-induced neurotoxicity through inhibiting the activation of microglia and the production of proinflammatory factors. These neuroprotective effects of resveratrol are at least mediated by suppressing the activity of NADPH oxidase and further decreasing ROS production and inhibiting the activation of MAPKs and NF-κB cascade signaling pathways. This study extends our understanding of anti-inflammatory activities mediated by resveratrol and suggests that NADPH oxidase is an important action site for its neuroprotection.

Glad to see that Dr. Hong's team are not letting up. So far they, along with Bin Liu, have gathered good evidence for a lot of what is discussed here. Not only inflammation and microglia, but also things such as low dose dextromethorphan. Worth running their names through the PubMed search.

It is not clear that resveratrol is able to cross the blood-brain barrier,
http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com...-red-wine.html

Great to see you posting again.
How long have you been on Mirapex, and how much are you taking? I assume that initiating it was in response to a particular issue. How much sinemet are you taking? What is the possibility that the Mirapex is at the bottom of your sleep problems?
Because of the side effects some experience with it, I would have to be in pretty bad shape before I would even consider using it.

Robert

If it can cross the BBB at the concentrations used by Hong in his brain tissue culture protection from microglial activation by LPS.
The selective inactivation of the toxic isoforms of the alzheimer-related amyloid peptide aggregates by Tessier with resveratrol is very interesting too.
I have not seen either of these papers yet, so don't know what concentrations of resveratrol were used in either study.

BTW, I am taking an anti-aging supplement manufactured by the Shaklee Corp. which contains 100 mg of resveratrol, along with other plant-derived polyphenol antioxidants per teaspoon. My wife, who is a Shaklee distributor, and I have been taking it since it was introduced in 2005.

Robert

i like mine in a good cabernet

Well said! I couldn't agree more, but I'm not up to the 100 glasses of cabernet needed to provide that amount of resveratrol.

a skeptical viewpoint
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=1952