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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by sydney on February 4, 2003, at 10:24:13
I have a question that am trying to answer-- How does Huperzine affect the course of Schizophrenia. If you have any personal experience or insight, I'd love to hear about it.
Some Background:
Huperzine-A is a widely available health food supplement derived from the club moss Huperzia Serratta. It has been use for millenia in Chinese Herbal Medicine for fever, as a diuretic, for blood loss, and for irregular menstruation.. http://www.healthwell.com/healthnotes/Herb/Huperzia.cfm
More interestingly, Huperzine has been touted as an alternative therapy for Alzheimer's disease. In fact, the clinical efficacy and safety of huperzine has been shown through, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trials in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer disease. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12181083&dopt=Abstract
My interest in Huperzine focuses on a different disease- schizophrenia.
Huperzine, besides being a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, is an NMDA Glutamate receptor agonist. (See, e.g., www.kenes.com/cholinergic/abstracts/53.doc). There is much literature implicating the brain's glutamate receptors in schizophrenia. (See generally http://www.stenmorten.com/English/bns/glut_and_schizo3b.htm)
Since both schizophrenia and Huperzine implicate the neurotransmitter glutamate, I would expect that Huperzine would have SOME effect on schizophrenia. I don't know whether that effect would be positive or negative. If you can help me answer this question, I'd appreciate it.
Posted by desolationrower on September 21, 2008, at 10:47:41
In reply to Schizophrenia and Huperzine, posted by sydney on February 4, 2003, at 10:24:13
Hm, it looks like that link indicates huperzine is actually and antagonist (nmda ion channel blocker).
As far as schizophrenia goes, this is potentially neuroprotective (excess glutamate cause toxicity and later hypoglutamtergic state), but research is at an early stage.
-D/R
This is the end of the thread.
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