Minds of their own

September 16, 2022September 17, 2022 gettingwell4 5+ stars Premium, Brain development, Brain hemispheres, Epigenetics, Memory, Neurochemicals, Serotonin, Stress Brain neurons, Critical period, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Happiness, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease

It’s the weekend, so it’s time for: Running errands? Watching sports? Other conditioned behavior?

Or maybe broadening our cognitive ability with Dr. Michael Levin’s follow-ups to his 2021 Basal cognition paper and 2020 Electroceuticals presentation with a 2022 paper and presentation starting around the 13:30 mark:

“A homeostatic feedback is usually thought of as a single variable such as temperature or pH. The set point has been found to be a large-scale geometry, a descriptor of a complex data structure.”

His 2022 paper Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded Framework for Understanding Diverse Bodies and Minds:

“It is proposed that the traditional problem-solving behavior we see in standard animals in 3D space is just a variant of evolutionarily more ancient capacity to solve problems in metabolic, physiological, transcriptional, and morphogenetic spaces (as one possible sequential timeline along which evolution pivoted some of the same strategies to solve problems in new spaces).

Developmental bioelectricity works alongside other modalities such as gene-regulatory networks, biomechanics, and biochemical systems. Developmental bioelectricity provides a bridge between the early problem-solving of body anatomy and the more recent complexity of behavioral sophistication via brains.

This unification of two disciplines suggests a number of hypotheses about the evolutionary path that pivoted morphogenetic control mechanisms into cognitive capacities of behavior, and sheds light on how Selves arise and expand.

While being very careful with powerful advances, it must also be kept in mind that existing balance was not achieved by optimizing happiness or any other quality commensurate with modern values. It is the result of dynamical systems properties shaped by meanderings of the evolutionary process and the harsh process of selection for survival capacity.”

Broccoli sprouts and your brain

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 gettingwell4 0-1 star Wasted resources, Brain development, Cerebrum, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Stress Brain neurons, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease

A 2022 review of Nrf2 signaling hilariously avoided mentioning sulforaphane, although of ~4,000 sulforaphane published articles, two were cited. I’ll curate it anyway to highlight referenced brain effects.

“A good stability of NRF2 activity is crucial to maintain redox balance and therefore brain homeostasis. In this review, we have gathered recent data about the contribution of the NRF2 pathway in the healthy brain as well as during metabolic diseases, ageing, and ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases.

A functional NRF2 system is important to regulate both neuroinflammation, i.e., activation of microglia and astrocytes, and oxidative stress in the brain. NRF2 and NF-κB transcription factors regulate cellular responses to inflammation and oxidative stress in order to maintain brain homeostasis. Both pathways have been described to inhibit each other.

Future challenges will be to establish novel therapies to:

Increase NRF2 activation in specific cell types and/or brain regions; and

Modulate NRF2 pathway in senescent cells.

Modulation of NRF2 signalling pathway by using specific food products [like unmentioned broccoli sprouts] and phytochemicals [like unmentioned sulforaphane], dietary supplements [like unmentioned Vitamin D3], drugs, and epigenetic modifiers, alone or in combination, will help to limit inflammatory diseases, ageing process, and subsequently ageing-related diseases.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/8/1426/htm “Normal and Pathological NRF2 Signalling in the Central Nervous System”

Eat broccoli sprouts for your offspring

August 2, 2022August 4, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Stress Control group, Embryo development, Genetic factors

This 2022 rodent study investigated effects of glucoraphanin supplementation during pregnancy and lactation:

“We investigated whether dietary intake of sulforaphane glucosinolate (SGS [properly termed glucoraphanin]) during pregnancy and lactation influenced composition of gut microbiota in offspring:

Dietary intake of SGS during pregnancy and lactation caused significant changes in diversity of gut microbiota in 3-week-old offspring (SGS-3W) and 10-week-old offspring (SGS-10W).

Plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in SGS-10W after injection of lipopolysaccharide were significantly lower than those of CON-10W group.

There were sex differences of gut microbiota composition in both SGS-3W and SGS-10W offspring.

This study has some limitations:

We did not investigate mechanisms of how dietary intake of SGS during pregnancy and lactation modulated gut microbial communities in offspring.

We found several signaling pathways in beneficial effects of SGS food pellet, and further study of the role of maternal intake of SGS food in these pathways is needed.

We did not investigate mechanisms of relationships between maternal intake of SGS and long-term anti-inflammatory action in adult offspring, and further detailed study including epigenetic modification is needed.

These data suggest that dietary intake of SGS during pregnancy and lactation might produce long-lasting beneficial effects in adult offspring through persistent modulation of gut microbiota. It is likely that modulation of gut microbiota by maternal nutrition may confer resilience versus vulnerability to stress-related psychiatric disorders in offspring.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286322001681 “Long-lasting beneficial effects of maternal intake of sulforaphane glucosinolate on gut microbiota in adult offspring”

This study published results of a mother’s glucoraphanin intake where offspring never ate glucoraphanin, with beneficial effects at both 3 weeks (~prepubescent human) and 10 weeks (~young human adult). Maybe future studies will continue this paradigm on to a second or third generation to see whether there are also transgenerational epigenetic effects.

This study’s methods extracted glucoraphanin from 1-day-old broccoli sprouts into a powder containing 135 mg (0.31 mmol) glucoraphanin per gram. Each 1 kg of of treatment chow included pellets containing (2.3 mmol / 0.31 mmol) x 135 mg = 1 gram of broccoli sprout powder, 0.1% of food intake.

Per Drying broccoli sprouts, dried 3-day-old broccoli sprouts contain 10% moisture, and fresh 3-day-old broccoli sprouts contain 82.6% moisture. A gram of 1-day-old broccoli sprout powder may be an approximate equivalent of (.826 / .1) = 8 grams fresh 3-day-old broccoli sprouts for a mouse / kg of daily food intake. A human equivalent dose is (.826 / .1) x .081 x 70 kg = 47 grams of fresh 3-day-old broccoli sprouts / kg of daily food intake.

That’s about how much 3-day-old, microwaved, glucoraphanin-containing broccoli and red cabbage sprouts I eat every day, starting from 7.2 grams of seeds. I sprout another 3.5 grams of yellow mustard seeds into the mixture for taste.

Beneficial dietary erucic acid?

July 19, 2022August 8, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Cerebellum, Epigenetics, Lower brain Control group, Corpus callosum, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Infants

A 2022 review to follow up Caution on broccoli seed erucic acid content?:

“Erucic acid is found to cause cardiac lipidosis in young animals, yet direct evidence of cardiac injury does not exist for young humans. Concerns about erucic acid safety and cardiotoxicity have been published in the press which are based on scientific reports in the 1970s that erucic acid disrupted oxidative phosphorylation and lead to accumulation of lipids in rat cardiac tissue.

Spanish toxic oil syndrome was a major concern, leading to questions about erucic acid cardiotoxicity. Yet it was found that not rapeseed oil per se, rather its carcinogen anilin-dye refined derivative caused cardiotoxicity.

Later, it was understood that reduced ATP production with erucic acid treatment was due to unapt isolation of rat cardiac mitochondria and lipid accumulation that was unique to rats that inherently harbour a low β-oxidative peroxisomal activity and tissue-specific metabolism of erucic acid. Similar structural or metabolic perturbations and tissue injuries were not encountered in monkeys, humans, and pigs.

Potential mechanisms regarding antineoplastic effects of erucic acid in brain tumors:

In children (0 to 14 years), medulloblastomas accounted for less than 10% of brain neoplasias in China, African countries, and Ireland. The ratio was in the range 20%–29% in Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Korea and Poland, the proportion was 30% in Ecuador, 31% in Taiwan and Jordan.

In adults, the ratio of brain neoplasias diagnosed as glioblastoma was:

Below 10% only in China;

In the range 10%–29% in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Nigeria, Algeria, Malta, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and the Russian Federation;

In the range 30%–49% in some South American countries, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, and Spain among others; and

In the range 50%–70% in North America, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Israel, Cyprus, Jordan, Kuwait, and in Oceania.

The low ratio of medulloblastomas in children and of glioblastomas in adult Chinese population cannot be easily attributed to a single genetic and nurture pattern. Very likely, many complex factors interact to explain this difference regarding the Chinese population.

Several hypotheses can be put forward to illuminate the cause of reduced ratios of high grade brain tumors in Chinese which would be of benefit for global reduction and prevention of brain tumors. Erucic acid is very highly consumed in the Chinese diet, and 8-fold higher erucic acid levels exist in Chinese women’s milk in comparison to many other countries.

We hypothesized that dietary erucic acid may be – at least among many factors – associated with reduced ratios of high grade brain tumors in Chinese. If epidemiological and animal studies would prove such an association, an effective, cheap, and relatively non-toxic dietary supplementary strategy may be employed to prevent brain tumors at erucic acid doses lower than those associated with any cardiotoxic effects.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11011-022-01022-4 “Could dietary erucic acid lower risk of brain tumors? An epidemiological look to Chinese population with implications for prevention and treatment” (not freely available) Thanks to Dr. Meric Altinoz for providing a copy.

Taurine week #7: Brain

June 18, 2022June 18, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Acetylcholine, Amygdala, Anterior cingulate cortex, Brain development, Cerebellum, Cerebrum, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Lower brain, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress, Thalamus Brain neurons, Control group, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

Finishing a week’s worth of 2022 taurine research with two reviews of taurine’s brain effects:

“We provide a overview of brain taurine homeostasis, and review mechanisms by which taurine can afford neuroprotection in individuals with obesity and diabetes. Alterations to taurine homeostasis can impact a number of biological processes such as osmolarity control, calcium homeostasis, and inhibitory neurotransmission, and have been reported in both metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders.

Models of neurodegenerative disorders show reduced brain taurine concentrations. On the other hand, models of insulin-dependent diabetes, insulin resistance, and diet-induced obesity display taurine accumulation in the hippocampus. Given cytoprotective actions of taurine, such accumulation of taurine might constitute a compensatory mechanism that attempts to prevent neurodegeneration.

Taurine release is mainly mediated by volume-regulated anion channels (VRAC) that are activated by hypo-osmotic conditions and electrical activity. They can be stimulated via glutamate metabotropic (mGluR) and ionotropic receptors (mainly NMDA and AMPA), adenosine A₁ receptors (A₁R), and metabotropic ATP receptors (P2Y).

Taurine mediates its neuromodulatory effects by binding to GABA_A, GABA_B, and glycine receptors. While taurine binding to GABA_A and GABA_B is weaker than to GABA, taurine is a rather potent ligand of the glycine receptor. Reuptake of taurine occurs via taurine transporter TauT.

Cytoprotective actions of taurine contribute to brain health improvements in subjects with obesity and diabetes through various mechanisms that improve neuronal function, such as:

Modulating inhibitory neurotransmission, which promotes an excitatory–inhibitory balance;

Stimulating antioxidant systems; and

Stabilizing mitochondria energy production and Ca²⁺ homeostasis.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/6/1292/htm “Taurine Supplementation as a Neuroprotective Strategy upon Brain Dysfunction in Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes”

A second review focused on taurine’s secondary bile acids produced by gut microbiota:

“Most neurodegenerative disorders are diseases of protein homeostasis, with misfolded aggregates accumulating. The neurodegenerative process is mediated by numerous metabolic pathways, most of which lead to apoptosis. Hydrophilic bile acids, particularly tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), have shown important anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective activities, with numerous experimental and clinical evidence suggesting their possible therapeutic use as disease-modifiers in neurodegenerative diseases.

Biliary acids may influence each of the following three mechanisms through which interactions within the brain-gut-microbiota axis take place: neurological, immunological, and neuroendocrine. These microbial metabolites can act as direct neurotransmitters or neuromodulators, serving as key modulators of the brain-gut interactions.

The gut microbial community, through their capacity to produce bile acid metabolites distinct from the liver, can be thought of as an endocrine organ with potential to alter host physiology, perhaps to their own favour. Hydrophilic bile acids, currently regarded as important hormones, exert modulatory effects on gut microbiota composition to produce secondary bile acids which seem to bind a number of receptors with a higher affinity than primary biliary acids, expressed on many different cells.

TUDCA regulates expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation and apoptotic pathways, promoting neuronal survival. TUDCA:

Improves protein folding capacity through its chaperoning activity, in turn reducing protein aggregation and deposition;

Reduces reactive oxygen species production, leading to protection against mitochondrial dysfunction;

Ameliorates endoplasmic reticulum stress; and

Inhibits expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, exerting an anti-neuroinflammatory effect.

Although Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and cerebral ischemia have different disease progressions, they share similar pathways which can be targeted by TUDCA. This makes this bile acid a potentially strong therapeutic option to be tested in human diseases. Clinical evidence collected so far has reported comprehensive data on ALS only.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9166453/ “Tauroursodeoxycholic acid: a potential therapeutic tool in neurodegenerative diseases”

The misnomer of nonessential amino acids

June 4, 2022June 4, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Amygdala, Brain development, Brainstem, Cerebellum, Cerebrum, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Immune system, Limbic system, Lower brain, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress Control group, Embryo development, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

Three papers, starting with a 2022 review:

“Ideal diets must provide all physiologically and nutritionally essential amino acids (AAs).

Proposed optimal ratios and amounts of true digestible AAs in diets during different phases of growth and production. Because dynamic requirements of animals for dietary AAs are influenced by a plethora of factors, data below as well as the literature serve only as references to guide feeding practices and nutritional research.

Nutritionists should move beyond the ‘ideal protein’ concept to consider optimum ratios and amounts of all proteinogenic AAs in diets for mammals, birds, and aquatic animals, and, in the case of carnivores, also taurine. This will help formulate effectively low-protein diets for livestock (including swine and high-producing dairy cattle), poultry, fish, and crustaceans, as well as zoo and companion animals.”

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15353702221082658 “The ‘ideal protein’ concept is not ideal in animal nutrition”

A second 2022 review focused on serine:

“The main dietary source of L-serine is protein, in which L-serine content ranges between 2 and 5%. At the daily intake of ~1 g protein per kg of body weight, the amount of serine obtained from food ranges between 1.4 and 3.5 g (13.2–33.0 mmol) per day in an adult.

Mechanisms of potential benefits of supplementing L-serine include increased synthesis of sphingolipids, decreased synthesis of 1-deoxysphingolipids, decrease in homocysteine levels, and increased synthesis of cysteine and its metabolites, including glutathione. L-serine supplementation has been suggested as a rational therapeutic approach in several disorders, particularly primary disorders of L-serine synthesis, neurodegenerative disorders, and diabetic neuropathy.

Unfortunately, the number of clinical studies evaluating dietary supplementation of L-serine as a possible therapy is small. Studies examining therapeutic effects of L-serine in CNS injury and chronic renal diseases, in which it is supposed that L-serine weakens glutamate neurotoxicity and lowers homocysteine levels, respectively, are missing.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/9/1987/htm “Serine Metabolism in Health and Disease and as a Conditionally Essential Amino Acid”

A 2021 review subject was D-serine, L-serine’s D-isoform:

“The N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor (NMDAR) and its co-agonist D-serine are currently of great interest as potential important contributors to cognitive function in normal aging and dementia. D-serine is necessary for activation of NMDAR and in maintenance of long-term potentiation, and is involved in brain development, neuronal connectivity, synaptic plasticity, and regulation of learning and memory.

The source of D-amino acids in mammals was historically attributed to diet or intestinal bacteria until racemization of L-serine by serine racemase was identified as the endogenous source of D-serine. The enzyme responsible for catabolism (breakdown) of D-serine is D-amino acid oxidase; this enzyme is most abundant in cerebellum and brainstem, areas with low levels of D-serine.

Activation of the NMDAR co-agonist-binding site by D-serine and glycine is mandatory for induction of synaptic plasticity. D-serine acts primarily at synaptic NMDARs whereas glycine acts primarily at extrasynaptic NMDARs.

In normal aging there is decreased expression of serine racemase and decreased levels of D-serine and down-regulation of NMDARs, resulting in impaired synaptic plasticity and deficits in learning and memory. In contrast, in AD there appears to be activation of serine racemase, increased levels of D-serine and overstimulation of NMDARs, resulting in cytotoxicity, synaptic deficits, and dementia.”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.754032/full “An Overview of the Involvement of D-Serine in Cognitive Impairment in Normal Aging and Dementia”

Brain changes

May 11, 2022May 11, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Anterior cingulate cortex, Brain development, Brain hemispheres, Cerebrum, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Limbic system, Memory DNA methylation, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

This 2022 human study investigated healthy young adult brain changes using MRI and epigenetic clock technologies:

“We aimed to characterize the association of epigenetic age (i.e. estimated DNA methylation age) and its acceleration with surface area, cortical thickness, and volume in healthy young adults. It is largely unknown how accelerated epigenetic age affects multiple cortical features among young adults from 19 to 49 years. Prior findings imply not only that these dynamic changes reveal different aspects of cortical aging, but also that chronological age itself is not a reliable factor to understand the process of cortical aging.

Seventy-nine young healthy individuals participated in this study. Findings of our study should be interpreted within the context of relatively small sample size, without older adults, and with epigenetic age assessed from saliva.

Additional and unique regional changes due to advanced and accelerated epigenetic age, compared to chronological age-related changes, suggest that epigenetic age could be a viable biomarker of cortical aging. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies with a larger sample and wider age range are necessary to characterize ongoing effects of epigenetic cortical aging, not only for healthy but also for pathological aging.”

https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhac043 “The effects of epigenetic age and its acceleration on surface area, cortical thickness, and volume in young adults” (not freely available) Thanks to Dr. Yong Jeon Cheong for providing a copy.

Thyroid function

May 5, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system Control group, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Infants

This 2022 review subject was thyroid function changes:

“Circulating concentrations of thyrotropin (TSH) and thyroxine (T4) are tightly regulated. Each individual has setpoints for TSH and free T4 which are genetically determined, and subject to environmental and epigenetic influence.

What is normal for one individual may not be normal for another, even within conventional definitions of euthyroidism. Notably, circulating TSH exists in several different isoforms with varying degrees of glycosylation, sialylation, and sulfonation which affect tissue availability and bioactivity. This is not reflected in immunoreactive TSH concentrations determined by routine laboratory assays.

TSH and free T4 relationship analyzed by age in 120,403 patients who were not taking thyroxine treatment. Median TSH for each free T4 integer value (in pmol/ L) was calculated, then plotted as 20-year age bands in adults. Dotted horizontal and vertical lines mark the TSH reference range (0.4 to 4.0 mU/L) and free T4 reference range (10 to 20 pmol/L), respectively.

Mild TSH elevation in older people does not predict adverse health outcomes. In fact, higher TSH is associated with greater life expectancy, including extreme longevity.

In older people, TSH increases with aging without an accompanying fall in free T4. Clinical guidelines now recommend against routine levothyroxine treatment in older people with mild subclinical hypothyroidism.”

https://e-enm.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.3803/EnM.2022.1463 “Thyroid Function across the Lifespan: Do Age-Related Changes Matter?”

Lifespan Uber Correlation

January 21, 2022January 21, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Cerebellum, Cerebrum, Epigenetics, Immune system, Lower brain Control group, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

This 2022 study developed new epigenetic clocks:

“Maximum lifespan is deemed to be a stable trait in species. The rate of biological function decline (i.e., aging) would be expected to correlate inversely with maximum species lifespan. Although aging and maximum lifespan are intimately intertwined, they nevertheless appear in some investigations to be distinct processes.

Some cytosines conserved across mammals exhibit age-related methylation changes so consistent that they were used to successfully develop cross-species age predictors. In a similar vein, methylation levels of some conserved cytosines correlate highly with species lifespan, leading to the development of highly accurate lifespan predictors. Surprisingly, little to no commonality is found between these two sets of cytosines.

We correlated the intra-species age correlation with maximum lifespan across mammalian species. We refer to this correlation of correlations as Lifespan Uber Correlation (LUC).

We overlapped genes from the LUC signature with genes found in human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of various pathologies and conditions. With all due caution, we report that some genes from the LUC signature were those highlighted by GWAS to be associated with type II diabetes, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and breast cancer.

We used the subset of CpGs found to be significant in our LUC to build age estimators (epigenetic clocks). We demonstrated that these clocks are able to capture effects of interventions that are known to alter age as well as lifespan, such as caloric restriction, growth hormone receptor knockout, and high-fat diet.

We found that Bcl11b heterozygous knockout mice exhibited an increased epigenetic age in the striatum. BCL11B is a zinc finger protein with a wide range of functions, including development of the brain, immune system, and cardiac system.

This gene is also implicated in several human diseases including, but not limited to, Huntington disease, Alzheimer’s diseases, HIV, and T-cell malignancies. BCL11B plays an important role in adult neurogenesis, but is less studied in the context of lifespan disparities in mammals.

Bcl11b knockout affected both DNA methylation and mRNA expression of LUC genes. Our current study does not inform us about the potential role of Bcl11b in aging processes during adulthood since observed patterns could be attributed to developmental defects.

We are characterizing other genetic and non-genetic interventions that perturb the LUC clocks. These we will feature in a separate report that will uncover biological processes regulated by LUC cytosines and their associated genes.”

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.16.476530v1 “Divergent age-related methylation patterns in long and short-lived mammals”

Defend yourself with taurine

December 28, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Acetylcholine, Brain development, Cerebellum, Cerebrum, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Locus coeruleus, Lower brain, Neurochemicals, Stress Brain neurons, Control group, Neurodegenerative disease

This densely packed 2021 review subject was taurine:

“Taurine (Tau), a sulphur-containing non-proteinogenic β-amino acid, has a special place as an important natural modulator of antioxidant defence networks:

Direct antioxidant effect of Tau due to scavenging free radicals is limited, and could be expected only in a few tissues (heart and eye) with comparatively high concentrations.

Maintaining optimal Tau status of mitochondria controls free radical production.

Indirect antioxidant activities of Tau due to modulating transcription factors leading to upregulation of the antioxidant defence network are likely to be major molecular mechanisms of Tau’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

A range of toxicological models clearly show protective antioxidant-related effects of Tau.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/10/12/1876/htm “Taurine as a Natural Antioxidant: From Direct Antioxidant Effects to Protective Action in Various Toxicological Models”

Inevitable individual differences

December 21, 2021December 22, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Serotonin, Stress Brain neurons, Control group, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity

This 2021 review subject was individual differences:

“We will focus on recent findings that try to shed light on the emergence of individuality, with a particular interest in Drosophila melanogaster.

(A) Cumulative and relative contribution of different sources of interindividual variability from early development stages to adult life experience. Individuality emerges from the combination of genetic factors, environmental factors, and stochastic factors.

(B) Variance distribution for a given phenotypic trait evoking variability among individuals within a population (Is what’s true for a population what’s true for an individual?).

(C) Variance distribution of phenotypic handedness is inherited to next generations within a population (Changing an individual’s future behavior even before they’re born).

Another possible source of potential behavioral variability might come from the interaction of individuals with environmental microbes, from Wolbachia infections to changes in the gut microbiome. In this particular case, no genetic variation or neural circuit alteration would be responsible for the change in behavior.

Finally, from an evolutionary point of view, individuality might play an essential role in providing an adaptive advantage. For example, we have described that animals might use diversified bet-hedging as a mechanism to produce high levels of variation within a population to ensure that at least some individuals will be well-adapted when facing unpredictable environments.”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.719038/full “Behavior Individuality: A Focus on Drosophila melanogaster”

Other papers on this subject include:

Offspring brain effects from maternal adversity

December 15, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Cerebrum, Cortisol, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Memory, Stress Brain neurons, Control group, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

This 2021 rodent study investigated conception through weaning effects on offspring from stressing their mothers:

“We investigated consequences of two prenatal insults, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and food-related stress, on DNA methylation profiles of the rat brain during early development. We analyzed patterns in prefrontal cortex, a key brain region involved in cognition, executive function, and behavior, of both males and females, and found sex-dependent and sex-concordant influences of these insults.

The pair-fed (PF) group in the PAE model is a standard control for effects of alcohol in reducing food intake. However, compared to the PAE group that, albeit eating less, eats ad libitum, pair-feeding is a treatment in itself, with PF dams receiving a restricted ration, which results in both hunger and a disrupted feeding schedule. These stress-related effects could potentially parallel or model food scarcity or food insecurity in human populations.

We observed more DMRs (Differentially Methylated Regions) that showed decreased DNAm rather than increased DNAm in PF animals, suggesting that food-related stress may interfere with one-carbon metabolism and the pathways that deposit methylation on DNA. We also identified a sex-concordant DMR that showed decreased DNAm in PF animals in the glucocorticoid receptor Nr3c1, which plays a key role in stress responsivity and may reflect a reprogramming of the stress response.

This result is in line with previous studies that have shown that pair-feeding is a considerable stressor on dams, with lasting consequences on development, behavior, and physiology of their offspring. Altered DNAm of this key HPA axis gene may reflect broader alterations to stress response systems, which may in turn, influence programming of numerous physiological systems linked to the stress response, including immune function, metabolic processes, and circadian rhythms.

In PAE and PF animals compared to controls, we identified 26 biological pathways that were enriched in females, including those involved in cellular stress and metabolism, and 10 biological pathways enriched in males, which were mainly involved in metabolic processes. These findings suggest that PAE and restricted feeding, both of which act in many respects as prenatal stressors, may influence some common biological pathways, which may explain some of the occasional overlap between their resulting phenotypes.

This study highlights the complex network of neurobiological pathways that respond to prenatal adversity/stressors and that modulate differential effects of early life insults on functional and health outcomes. Study of these exposures provides a unique opportunity to investigate sex-specific effects of prenatal adversity on epigenetic patterns, as possible biological mechanisms underlying sex-specific responses to prenatal insults are understudied and remain largely unknown.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/11/1773/htm “Prenatal Adversity Alters the Epigenetic Profile of the Prefrontal Cortex: Sexually Dimorphic Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Food-Related Stress”

Reworking evolutionary theory

November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Memory, Primal Therapy, Stress Brain neurons, Conscious awareness, Control group, Critical period, DNA methylation, Dr. Arthur Janov, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Infants, Levels of consciousness, Neural plasticity, Unconscious feelings, Unconscious memories

Dr. Michael Skinner coauthored a 2021 review arguing for inclusion of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance into evolutionary theory:

“Over the past 50 years, molecular technology has been used to investigate evolutionary biology. Many examples of finding no correlated genetic mutations or a low frequency of DNA sequence mutations suggest that additional mechanisms are also involved.

Identical twins have essentially the same genetics, but generally develop discordant disease as they age.

Only a low frequency (generally 1% or less) of individuals that have a specific disease have a correlated genetic mutation.

Dramatic increases in disease frequency in the population cannot be explained with genetics alone.

DNA methylation, histone modifications, changes to chromatin structure, expression of non-coding RNA, and RNA methylation can directly regulate gene expression independent of DNA sequence. These different epigenetic factors do not only act independently, but integrate with each other to provide a level of epigenetic complexity to accommodate the needs of cellular development and differentiation.

Environmental epigenetics is the primary molecular mechanism in any organism that is used to promote physiological and phenotypic alterations. Actions of environmental factors early in development can permanently program the cellular molecular function, which then impacts later life disease or phenotypes.

Integration of epigenetics and genetics contribute to a Unified Theory of Evolution that explains environmental impacts, phenotypic variation, genetic variation, and adaptation that natural selection acts on. The current review expands this proposed concept and provides a significant amount of supporting literature and experimental models to support the role of environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance in evolution.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557805/ “Role of environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance in evolutionary biology: Unified Evolution Theory”

Organisms cited in this review’s references are similar to humans in ancestral influences and developmental influences during the first 1000 days of our lives. Humans are different in that even after all these influences, we can choose to influence our own change and individually evolve. We can also change our internal environments per Switch on your Nrf2 signaling pathway and An environmental signaling paradigm of aging.

Do genes determine monogamy / polygamy?

October 30, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Immune system, Limbic system, Neurochemicals Brain neurons, Control group, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease

This 2021 rodent study developed epigenetic clocks for deer mice:

“We have undertaken a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in Peromyscus, spanning different species, stocks, sexes, tissues, and age cohorts. We present CpGs and enriched pathways that relate to different conditions such as chronological age, high altitude, and monogamous behavior.

Analysis involved tails, whole brain, and liver samples that are not major target tissues for sex hormones. This implies that sex-specific patterns of methylation are inflicted early during development, and persist at adulthood.

Altitude-specific age-related changes are adjacent to genes that play a role in brain development, immune system functioning, and T-cell development.

Comparison of brain specimens between older P. leucopus and P. maniculatus indicated that in the latter, coordination of the unfolded protein response is compromised, and evidence of neurodegenerative pathology was obtained.

Our study involved three monogamous (P. californicus, P. polionotus, and P. eremicus) and two polygamous (P. maniculatus and P. leucopus) species. The most significant EWAS hits for monogamy included decreased methylation in Zeb2 intron, a key regulator of midbrain dopaminergic neuron development. These results derived from tail tissues, suggesting that inherent differences in bonding behavior instruct specific epigenetic changes in peripheral tissues that may be translated into distinct physiological outcomes. Whether this is due to differential regulation of specific neurohormonal circuits in response to hormones and neurotransmitters related to bonding, and what the exact physiological outputs are, remains to be determined.

Our study provided the first epigenetic clock for Peromyscus, and illustrated the hierarchical association between various biological variables in determining methylation profiles across different scales of biological organization.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-021-00472-5 “Methylation studies in Peromyscus: aging, altitude adaptation, and monogamy”

All about the betaine, Part 2

October 27, 2021December 26, 2021 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Immune system, Limbic system, Stress Control group, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors

Continuing Part 1 by curating a partial outline of a 2021 review:

“This review focuses on the biological and beneficial effects of dietary betaine (trimethylglycine), a naturally occurring and crucial methyl donor.

Betaine has a neuroprotective role, preserves myocardial function, and prevents pancreatic steatosis. Betaine also attenuates oxidant stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, inflammation, and cancer development.

Betaine Protects against Development of Alcohol-Induced Hepatic Steatosis

Betaine Protects against Detrimental Effects of HCV and Ethanol on Innate Immunity

Betaine Maintains Intestinal Epithelial Barrier Integrity

Betaine Maintains Adipose Function

Human intervention studies showed no adverse effects with 4 g/day supplemental administration of betaine in healthy subjects. However, overweight subjects with metabolic syndrome showed a significant increase in total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations. These effects were not observed with 3 g/day of betaine administration.

We suggest betaine as a promising therapeutic for clinical use to treat these aforementioned diseases as well as other liver-/non-liver-related diseases and conditions.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/10/6/456/htm “Beneficial Effects of Betaine: A Comprehensive Review”

This review cited a 2020 study Transgenerational Inheritance of Betaine-Induced Epigenetic Alterations in Estrogen-Responsive IGF-2/IGFBP2 Genes in Rat Hippocampus (not freely available):

“Hippocampal expression of aromatase, estrogen receptor α, and estrogen-related receptor β is downregulated in F1, together with estrogen-responsive insulin-like growth factor 2/insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGF-2/IGFBP2) genes. However, all these genes are upregulated in F2, which follows the same pattern of F0.

Imprinting control region of IGF-2 gene is hypomethylated in F1 but hypermethylated in F2 and F0. In contrast, the promoter DNA methylation status of all affected genes is hypermethylated in F1 but hypomethylated in F2 and F0.”

Intergenerational flip-flops of F₀ phenotypes to opposite F₁ phenotypes back to F₀ phenotypes in the F₂ generation can’t conclusively demonstrate transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of alterations due to betaine consumption during pregnancy.
Those researchers had to continue on to a F₃ female generation for transgenerational results, because F₂ generation cells were present in F₁ fetuses, and were potentially affected during pregnant F₀ treatments.

I came across this paper through a citation chain initiated by Dr. Paul Clayton’s blog post Foie Gras:

“Thanks to our modern diet and lifestyle, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now reckoned to affect an astonishing quarter of the world’s population.”