April 2009
1 post
The Authority Gene
We were discussing schizophrenia in my neuropsychopharmacology class and the hereditary/genetic aspect came up. What is strange about this is that there is a family history, but 60% of people do not have any family history of it. Now what is unique here is that many of the schizophrenics who do not have a family history, often have someone in their family who is extremely religious. I’m...
March 2009
2 posts
Stupid Things People Say About the Brain
“Once you are an adult, you will never have new neurons in your brain”
Far from true. It has been known since the 1960s that there was evidence of new cell growth in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (memory center) and the Rostral Migratory stream (olfactory). This has been solidified during the 80s, and 90s by Heather Cameron and Elizabeth Gould (at least I think these are...
Drug addiction causes irreversible brain changes
There are several studies (mostly from the labs of Brain Kolb and Tim Robinson) that have found that the brain has negative plastic changes in the Nucleus accumbens, Pre-frontal cortex, and the ventral tegmental area in response to drug addiction which cannot be reversed in animal models. These effects cannot even be reverse by complex housing (the most powerful method for increasing positive...
February 2009
2 posts
Nicotine for the fetus
Turns out that small amounts of nicotine can be beneficial to rat embryos. It is associated with a slightly higher IQ.
This does have a downfall, along with the higher IQ comes the higher possibility of a low birth-weight which is attributed to a higher chance of complications which then correlates with lower IQ.
So this is one hell of a gamble. Either the kid is slightly smarter or slightly...
Drugs in utero
Another tid bit from neuropharmacology
If a fetus receives any amount of a drug in utero, they will experience a tolerance/with-drawl proportional to the amount of the drug which they were exposed to. Think about that if you get knocked up.
January 2009
1 post
Drugs and Grapefruit
According to my Neuropsychopharmacology Prof, there is something in grapefruits that causes potentiation of drug effects. What this means is that by taking a drug (i.e. alcohol, SSRIs, even caffeine) the effect of the drug will be increased by the consumption of grapefruit. Nifty.
Don’t abuse this and OD….please.
References (APA 5th style)
Dasgupta, A., Reyes, M. A., Risin, S....
December 2008
1 post
“As long as our brain is a mystery, the universe, the reflection of the structure...”
– Santiago Ramón y Cajal