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The neuroscience of long-haul travel

By aid On March 9, 2010 No Comments

I travel a lot each year, the kind that most people get anxious about, involving 10+ hr time changes. People are often surprised at how little this affects me and I am often asked to share my techniques. So I thought I’d take some time to write out what I have learned.The truth is, on the first few long-haul trips I was exhausted and disorientated for days. Over a few years I started developing habits that made traveling long distances much easier. (Note - none of these habits involved any pharmaceutical or other kinds of drugs.) Speaking to other travelers, I began to see that many people had similar habits, which suggested that there may be something biological going on. The more I learned about the brain, the more these habits started to make sense. Here are some of the habits I use, an…

Melatonin inhibits serotonin transporter activity in intestinal epithelial cells

By aid On March 5, 2010 No Comments

This study shows, for the first time, that melatonin modulates SERT activity, thus demonstrating the feedback system between melatonin and the serotoninergic system in the gastrointestinal tract. (Source: Journal of Pineal Research)

N-terminal residues regulate proteasomal degradation of AANAT

By aid On March 5, 2010 No Comments

Abstract: Serotonin N-acetyltransferase (AANAT) catalyzes the conversion of serotonin to N-acetylserotonin, which is the immediate precursor for formation of melatonin. Although it is known that AANAT is degraded via the proteasomal proteolysis, detailed mechanisms are not defined. In this paper, we tested the in vivo role of proteasome inhibition on AANAT activity and melatonin release and examined the amino acid residues in AANAT that contribute to the proteasome degradation. We have shown that inhibition of proteasome activities in vivo in the intact pineal gland fails to prevent the light-induced suppression of melatonin secretion. Furthermore, in cell lines stably expressing AANAT, inhibition of proteasomal proteolysis, which resulted in a large accumulation of AANAT protein, similarl…

Pre- and post-treatment of streptozocin administered rats with melatonin: effects on some hepatic enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism.

By aid On March 3, 2010 No Comments

CONCLUSION: Melatonin pre-treatment prevents the injurious effects of streptozocin in rats. In streptozocin induced diabetic animals, post-treatment with this antioxidant normalizes both blood and liver constituents which were ameliorated by streptozocin.
PMID: 20187663 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Archives of Iranian Medicine)