Posted by Larry Hoover on June 16, 2004, at 9:09:05
In reply to GABA, posted by Questionmark on June 16, 2004, at 8:45:22
> i have read a number of reports/anecdotes from people on here who have said that they notice an effect from taking GABA supplements-- usually an anti-anxiety effect. But i was under the impression that GABA does not cross the blood-brain barrier, so how is this possible? Do you think it Is possible for GABA supplementation to work? ..Maybe a certain proportion of the GABA is able to cross the BBB? What do you think?
First off, the blood-brain barrier is not a wall. It's more like a filter, but not even a perfect filter. GABA is a pretty small molecule, relatively speaking, so, perhaps if the blood concentration gets high enough, there's enough of a trickle-in effect to be noticeable.
Someone recently raised an interesting conjecture....if GABA is converted to GHB by a certain enzyme (succinic aldehyde reductase or something like that), and that happened outside the blood-brain barrier, then most certainly the GHB can enter freely. If I recall correctly, GHB is soluble in the BBB, so it doesn't need to be transported across. It just drifts on over by diffusion.
More generally, I think the argument itself is somewhat moot. Arguing mechanisms to explain (or refute) actual experience is not going to tell us much. Empiricism (what people actually observe) is reality. If people feel less anxiety with oral GABA, then that sounds like a good thing to me. Geeks have been wrong before.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:357170
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040613/msgs/357177.html