Neurotoxins: Free Radical Mechanisms and Melatonin Protection against Molecular Mutilation

[SilentEchoes]

Can neurodegenerative diseases be anything other than exposure to toxic substances? After reading this article, the notion that Parkinson's disease is idiopathic and Alzheimer's disease and ALS/MND have no known cause is ludicrous.

"Toxins that pass through the blood-brain barrier [when inhaled (like my poisoning) the nose to brain pathway circumvents the bbb] put [brain] neurons and glia in peril.

The damage inflicted is usually a consequence of the ability of these toxic agents to induce free radical generation within cells but especially at the level of the mitochondria.

N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine (melatonin), was discovered as a potent antioxidant in 1993. Since then, melatonin’s ability to protect all cells and organs from oxidative/nitrosative damage has been confirmed in more than a thousand publications.

The processes by which melatonin quells molecular damage resulting from oxygen derivatives are only briefly enumerated here since there are numerous reviews on this subject, these surveys should assure the reader of the high efficacy of melatonin and its derivatives in screening all cells, including those in the CNS, from molecular havoc.

In this survey we summarize the publications related to the following neurotoxins and the protective actions of melatonin: aminolevulinic acid, cyanide, domoic acid, kainic acid, metals, methamphetamine, polychlorinated biphenyls, rotenone, toluene and 6-hydroxydopamine."

This is a fascinating article and I encourage you to read it.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

The authors had me at "molecular mutilation" that says it all.

SE

[LAJ12345]

Should everyone be taking melatonin 30 minutes before their L/C?

“L-DOPA (L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) administration is used to restore DA levels in the brain of individuals diagnosed with Parkinson disease. The rise in neuronal DA causes the production of 6-hydroxydopamine [139], a molecule, as summarized above, that has significant neural toxicity. It is presumed that the neural toxin is a consequence of the high production of ROS at the site of the lesion in the substantia nigra. Given the presumed involvement of oxygen-based radicals in vivo 6-hydroxydopamine production, it was surmised that melatonin would likely inhibit the production of the neurotoxin. Using a ferrous-ascorbate-dopamine (FAD) hydroxyl radical generating system, it was found that melatonin prevented 6-hydroxydopamine formation from DA in vitro [29]. When FAD was infused into the medial forebrain bundle in the diencephalon of mice, a significant depletion of DA was recorded in the striatum. Treatment of mice with 30 mg/kg melatonin 30 minutes in advance of L-DOPA administration reduced 6-hydroxydopamine production in the brain and protected against DA depletion in the striatum.”

[LAJ12345 in reply to LAJ12345]

30mg/kg for a 80kg human is a massive amount!

[SilentEchoes in reply to LAJ12345]

Or switch to a less toxic form of dopamine, Mucuna.