NSI-189 has been shown to increase the hippocampal volume of adult mice by 20%
Given that there is only a certain amount of room inside the skull, how can this be true in adult mice? I can understand how it might increase density, or increase hippocampal volume when administered in adolescence and the skull has not finished growing, but unless there are holes in the brain I can’t see how this could be true in adults.
I suppose maybe the amount of cerebospinal fluids could decrease, increasing intelligence at a cost of decreasing ability to withstand blows to the head.
The hippocampus is a relatively tiny structure in the human brain, and I would guess it’s even proportionally smaller in the mouse brain. I doubt the corresponding decrease in cerebrospinal fluid volume would make any difference in function. There’s already much more variation in cerebrospinal fluid volume in healthy humans than a 20% increase in hippocampal volume could account for.
Most of the brain is not hippocampus. You could increase the volume of the hippocampus by taking volume away from the rest of the brain (e.g. making it more dense or taking neurons away from it).
To state the blatantly obvious, if there is a possibility that this drug works by taking neurons away from other parts of the brain, then its use is really dangerous.
BTW is this a guess, or do you have some reason to believe that this sort of neuroplacicity is possible?
Not even really a guess, just something that seemed vaguely plausible (I know almost nothing about neuroscience). “Making it more dense” seemed more likely to me, i.e. the hippocampus grows and puts pressure on the rest of the brain causing it to shrink without losing function. But it also seemed plausible to me that neurons regularly get repurposed between brain structures, so I mentioned that as well.
Fair enough. I know a little neuroscience, and while there is synaptic plasticity, AFAIK neurons cannot switch between entirely different regions of the brain. I agree that an increase in density is more plausible.
I’d be more interested in behavioral changes in the mice. For some reason not all people with tiny hippocampuses or generally atrophied brains have problems with memory (or mood), and we still can’t reliably diagnose progressive memory disorders, or many other neurological disorders for that matter, via brain scans alone.
I would like to try NSI-189: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSI-189
People’s experiences with this drug and suggestions for vendors would therefore be welcome.
Stupid questions time:
Given that there is only a certain amount of room inside the skull, how can this be true in adult mice? I can understand how it might increase density, or increase hippocampal volume when administered in adolescence and the skull has not finished growing, but unless there are holes in the brain I can’t see how this could be true in adults.
I suppose maybe the amount of cerebospinal fluids could decrease, increasing intelligence at a cost of decreasing ability to withstand blows to the head.
The hippocampus is a relatively tiny structure in the human brain, and I would guess it’s even proportionally smaller in the mouse brain. I doubt the corresponding decrease in cerebrospinal fluid volume would make any difference in function. There’s already much more variation in cerebrospinal fluid volume in healthy humans than a 20% increase in hippocampal volume could account for.
Most of the brain is not hippocampus. You could increase the volume of the hippocampus by taking volume away from the rest of the brain (e.g. making it more dense or taking neurons away from it).
To state the blatantly obvious, if there is a possibility that this drug works by taking neurons away from other parts of the brain, then its use is really dangerous.
BTW is this a guess, or do you have some reason to believe that this sort of neuroplacicity is possible?
Not even really a guess, just something that seemed vaguely plausible (I know almost nothing about neuroscience). “Making it more dense” seemed more likely to me, i.e. the hippocampus grows and puts pressure on the rest of the brain causing it to shrink without losing function. But it also seemed plausible to me that neurons regularly get repurposed between brain structures, so I mentioned that as well.
Fair enough. I know a little neuroscience, and while there is synaptic plasticity, AFAIK neurons cannot switch between entirely different regions of the brain. I agree that an increase in density is more plausible.
I’d be more interested in behavioral changes in the mice. For some reason not all people with tiny hippocampuses or generally atrophied brains have problems with memory (or mood), and we still can’t reliably diagnose progressive memory disorders, or many other neurological disorders for that matter, via brain scans alone.