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Tolkien The Children of Hurin
- Niacinamide -
General
Information:
Names:
Niacinamide, nicotinamide
Wikipedia entry:
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Observations:
Niacinamide / nicotinamide
See
also Tau
Busters, B-complex Vitamins,
Niacinamide
Riboside
Wikipedia
entry:
Nicotinamide,
also known as niacinamide and nicotinic acid amide, is the amide of
nicotinic acid (vitamin B3 / niacin). Nicotinamide is a water-soluble
vitamin and is part of the vitamin B group. Nicotinic acid, also
known as niacin, is converted to nicotinamide in vivo, and, though
the two are identical in their vitamin functions, nicotinamide does
not have the same pharmacologic and toxic effects of niacin, which
occur incidental to niacin's conversion. Thus nicotinamide does not
reduce cholesterol or cause flushing,[1] although nicotinamide may be
toxic to the liver at doses exceeding 3 g/day for adults. In cells,
niacin is incorporated into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)
and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), although the
pathways for nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are very similar. NAD+
and NADP+ are coenzymes in a wide variety of enzymatic
oxidation-reduction
reactions...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacinamide
Here is a thread about
niacinamide on the Alz.org forum. It is from
early November of
2008:
http://alzheimers.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/762104261/m/3931050033
Apparently,
nicotinamide combats the tau protein problem common to so many of
these neurodegenerative diseases. Also known as "niacinamide",
it appears to be readily available from health food stores. The
dosing given to the mice was 200 mg/kg/day in their drinking water. I
don't know if this number is for the mass of the water, or the body
weight of the mice. "The mice received the equivalence of about
2 g of nicotinamide for humans." Several supplement suppliers
make 500mg capsules or tablets. This would mean one would have to
take 4 of these per day. Not so bad.
Here are the article
cited in the thread:
First, a Google
search:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=in&ned=us&q=vitamin+b3&btnG=Search+News
Vitamin
Holds Promise for Alzheimer's Disease
Treatment
cured memory problems in mice, researchers found
U.S.
News and World Report
Posted
November 5,
2008
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/11/05/vitamin-holds-promise-for-alzheimers-disease.html
The abstract for the
niacinamide study:
Nicotinamide
Restores Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease Transgenic Mice via a
Mechanism Involving Sirtuin Inhibition and Selective Reduction of
Thr231-Phosphotau
Kim
N. Green,1 Joan S. Steffan,2 Hilda Martinez-Coria,1 Xuemin Sun,3
Steven S. Schreiber,3,5 Leslie Michels Thompson,1,2,4 and Frank
M.
LaFerla1
Departments
of 1Neurobiology and Behavior, 2Psychiatry and Human Behavior,
3Neurology, 4Biological Chemistry, and 5Anatomy and Neurobiology,
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California
92697-4545
"Memory
loss is the signature feature of Alzheimer's disease, and therapies
that prevent or delay its onset are urgently needed. Effective
preventive strategies likely offer the greatest and most widespread
benefits. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors increase histone
acetylation and enhance memory and synaptic plasticity. We evaluated
the efficacy of nicotinamide, a competitive inhibitor of the sirtuins
or class III NAD+-dependent HDACs in 3xTg-AD mice, and found that it
restored cognitive deficits associated with pathology. Nicotinamide
selectively reduces a specific phospho-species of tau (Thr231) that
is associated with microtubule depolymerization, in a manner similar
to inhibition of SirT1. Nicotinamide also dramatically increased
acetylated {alpha}-tubulin, a primary substrate of SirT2, and MAP2c,
both of which are linked to increased microtubule stability. Reduced
phosphoThr231-tau was related to a reduction of
monoubiquitin-conjugated tau, suggesting that this
posttranslationally modified form of tau may be rapidly degraded.
Overexpression of a Thr231-phospho-mimic tau in vitro increased
clearance and decreased accumulation of tau compared with wild-type
tau. These preclinical findings suggest that oral nicotinamide may
represent a safe treatment for AD and other tauopathies, and that
phosphorylation of tau at Thr231 may regulate tau
stability.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/45/11500
Nicotinamide
Restores Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease Reduces Alzheimer's tau
lesions and memory loss in mice
By
Will Block Life Enhancement
"At
the end of the trial, the AD mice performed as well in memory testing
as healthy mice, a remarkable result strongly suggesting that
nicotinamide had protected their brains from memory loss, and
restored memory that would have been lost. “Cognitively, they
were cured,” first author of the study, Dr. Kim Green said.
“They performed as if they’d never developed the
disease.”3 “The vitamin completely prevented cognitive
decline associated with the disease, bringing them back to the level
they’d be at if they didn’t have the pathology,”
said Dr. Green. “It actually improved behavior in non-demented
animals too.”4 Meaning that healthy mice fed nicotinamide
outperformed mice on a normal diet. “This suggests that not
only is it good for Alzheimer’s disease, but if normal people
take it, some aspects of their memory might improve,” said Dr.
Frank LaFerla, the lead author of the study..."
"Nicotinamide
is a water soluble member of the B vitamin group. Also known as
niacinamide, nicotinamide is the amide of nicotinic acid (vitamin
B3), also known as niacin. In vivo, niacin is converted to
nicotinamide and although the two are identical in their vitamin
functions, nicotinamide does not have the same pharmacologic effects
of niacin, which may affect the liver negatively in some individuals.
Unlike niacin, nicotinamide does not reduce cholesterol or cause
flushing. In cells, niacin forms the coenzymes nicotinamide adenine
dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
(NADP). Although the pathways for nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are
very similar. NAD+ and NADP+ are coenzymes in a wide variety of
enzymatic oxidation-reduction reactions..."
"In
their search for just what was going on, nicotinamide did not affect
levels of the protein beta amyloid, which clumps in the brain to form
plaques, the second type of Alzheimer’s lesion. Given this lack
of effect on beta amyloid levels, the researchers figured the
compound must be improving cognition through some other mechanism.
Upon analyzing protein extracts from whole brain samples of treated
and control AD mice, they found a 20 percent reduction in levels of
tau in the nicotinamide-treated animals. They saw no differences at
several tau sites typically phosphorylated in AD mice at the end of
eight months, but a whopping 60 percent reduction in
Thr231-phospho-tau—a particular species of tau that has been
reported to interfere with microtubule polymerization and is a
commonly used biomarker for AD—in the nicotinamide group
compared with vehicle. “It’s incredibly dramatic,”
Green told the Alzheimer’s Research Forum. “This thing [a
biomarker for AD] is just wiped from the brain very
specifically...”5
References
1. Wang SS. When Alzheimer’s hits at
40. New York Times, Nov. 14, 2008.
2.
Green KN, Steffan JS, Martinez-Coria H, Sun X, Schreiber SS, Thompson
LM,LaFerla FM. Nicotinamide restores cognition in Alzheimer’s
disease transgenic mice via a mechanism involving sirtuin inhibition
and selective reduction of Thr231-phosphotau. J Neurosci 2008 Nov
5;28(45):11500-10.
3.
Dotinga R. Vitamin holds promise for Alzheimer’s disease.
Healthday Nov. 5, 2008.
4.
Sample I. Vitamin pill that may slow Alzheimer’s goes on trial.
The Guardian, Nov. 05 2008.
5.
Anon. Alzheimer’s Research Forum. Nov. 8, 2008.
http://www.life-enhancement.com/article_template.asp?ID=2049
Understanding neurofibrillary
tangles
(image)
http://www.life-enhancement.com/images/LEM0901tangles_large.jpg
Vitamin
B3 Reduces Alzheimer's Symptoms, Lesions: Clinical Trial On
Nicotinamide Effect In Alzheimer's Patients
ScienceDaily
(Nov. 5, 2008) — An over-the-counter vitamin in high doses
prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer's disease, and UC Irvine
scientists now are conducting a clinical trial to determine its
effect in humans. Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, lowered levels
of a protein called phosphorylated tau that leads to the development
of tangles, one of two brain lesions associated with Alzheimer's
disease. The vitamin also strengthened scaffolding along which
information travels in brain cells, helping to keep neurons alive and
further preventing symptoms in mice genetically wired to develop
Alzheimer's. "Nicotinamide has a very robust effect on neurons,"
said Kim Green, UCI scientist and lead author of the study.
"Nicotinamide prevents loss of cognition in mice with
Alzheimer's disease, and the beauty of it is we already are moving
forward with a clinical
trial."...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081104180926.htm
Nicotinamide-induced
mitophagy: An event mediated by high NAD+/NADH ratio and SIRT1
activation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22493485
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Known
sources:
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Natural
sources:
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References:
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Updated: July 2, 2012
Inception:
July 2, 2012