Drugs which Brain Produces Naturally

A study published in the journal Neuron confirms some assumptions made in the eighties , why the brain should have its own natural store of drugs?

In our body, incredible as it may seem, there are drugs that the brain produces a completely natural way. But drugs understood as those stimulants, narcotic or hallucinogenic that can cause serious addiction problems.

No. We refer to another completely different concept, which is usually studied in pharmacology . In other words, the ‘drug’ that comes from the Dutch droog , but no English drug (in this case it would be referred to a substance abuse).

Probably, to start this article, many ye thought is not new. It will not have heard of other compounds such as endorphins and endocannabinoids. But no. Today we will not talk of these compounds, but the Valium , a drug derived from the 1,4-benzodiazepine.

The discoverer of benzodiazepines, in particular, diazepam (known commercially as Valium) was a chemist named Leo Henryk Sternbach, which manufactured this drug as part of the pharmaceutical company Roche. These compounds are commonly used as tranquilizers, in fact Valium is often used in people suffering seizures.

In 1985, researchers at the State University of New York published a paper in the journal PNAS , which should have pointed analogs of these benzodiazepines in the mammalian brain, given the results of their research.

The scientists proposed that because immunocytochemistry studies that were made, could be confirmed, though not completely, the existence of a kind of tranquilizers to our most important organ. In other words, it was understood that drugs were made in normal brain, which operate similarly to what makes valium.

Almost thirty years after that work, researchers at the Faculty of Medicine at Stanford University, have found that the results published in the eighties were not entirely misguided. The work, which is now published in the journal Neuron , is a tremendous boost to previous research. The project leader, Dr. John Huguenard, has confirmed that “this is one of the most exciting discoveries in the field of neuroscience.”

And the possibility that they have found a protein that works like valium , makes possible the existence of drugs that the brain produces naturally. Scientists have seen inhibitory protein diazepam receptor in the brain presents a similar performance to that of these tranquilizers: relaxes key neural circuitry, and can be considered in the future as a key tool in the treatment of epilepsy, disorders sleep or anxiety.

This protein has been known for some time, but we knew nothing about its origin and composition, to the very publication of the work of European scientists. It has been found that the new drug has the same efficacy as valium itself, producing the same effect neurological.

A job that does nothing but deepen the clever part of our body, and responds to questions as curious as the functioning of our mind, and the possibility of drug that makes the brain naturally. The answer is yes , as this compound mimics endogenous work valium, serving as a kind of natural tranquilizer , for example in the event that seizure occurred.

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Posted by Paracha on June 4, 2013. Filed under Articles, Health, Life Style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.