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    Rainforest plants potential cure for ALS

    I recently came across a very interesting article on newly researched natural medicinal plants and their potential for treatment of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. I thought I'd share it, for anyone who might be interested.

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    #2
    UPDATE:
    (from Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...)

    Natural ALS treatment trial in progress – Current number of participants: 4 (Sweden, United States, Brazil)

    Based on the strong response to the original article, discussions has led to the launch of a pilot project in order to create the incentive necessary for researchers to fully investigate the potential of ayahuasca plants for treatment of ALS and neurological diseases in general. It will also serve the purpose of informing people about medicinal use of ayahuasca, as an alternative treatment option for the reversal of the progression of ALS and related diseases.

    Many concerned people have been contacting me, asking why further studies on the specific subject matter are not being conducted at this point. The answer being the general absence of awareness regarding the medicinal value of these potent plants and their possible role in the future treatment of ALS and other neurological diseases. With individuals representing a community of people coming forward to present their experiences from using these medicinal plants, in the context of alternative treatment, the documented results will hopefully provide the cause for thorough scientific evaluation to be made.

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      #3
      It has now surfaced in diabetes research:

      Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...


      Considering previous information, and the regeneration of insulin producing beta-cells in this study, could not then harmine and/or other alkaloids in ayahuasca be able to stimulate the regeneration of other types of cells where needed in the body, such as nerve cells in people with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases?



      From Newsweek:

      Chemical in Ayahuasca Has Potential to Treat Diabetes

      Ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine that grows in the Amazon, has long been used by local shamans for its supposed powers of spiritual awakening and healing. Now, a new study suggests it contains a chemical that may also cure diabetes.

      In type 1 diabetes, people have have lost about 99 percent of their beta cells, which reside in the pancreas and produce insulin, which, in turn, allows the human body to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. Without beta cells, your blood sugar levels yo-yo up and down, up and down, wreaking havoc on the body. (In the much more common type 2 diabetes, people usually have a 50 to 60 percent loss of beta cells, which combines with a growing resistance to insulin to create a set of symptoms similar to those seen in type 1 diabetes.)

      Inspired by this possibility, researchers set out to find chemicals that might cause these cells to regenerate, screening 100,000 drugs. They found only one that worked: harmine. Intriguingly, this chemical is present in various plants, including the vine used in the Amazonian psychedelic medicine called ayahuasca.

      In the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists found that harmine had strong ability to make these cells—also known as beta islets—grow back. To test this, researchers implanted islets into mice and gave them harmine. Mice given harmine saw the number of beta cells triple, and the previously diabetic mice had greatly improved blood sugar levels.

      "Our results provide a large body of evidence demonstrating that [harmine] can make human beta cells proliferate at levels that may be relevant for diabetes treatment," said study author Dr. Andrew Stewart, at the Icahn School of Medicine, in a statement.

      The study authors wrote that this chemical might not be best to give to people unaltered, since it also has psychoactive effects. But understanding the chemistry of how it causes beta cells to proliferate could guide efforts to find a related drug that might be able to do the trick, Stewart says.



      Ayahuasca ALS Treatment Project:

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        #4
        New findings as of June 16th 2016:

        From Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

        Scientists find that Ayahuasca stimulates the birth of new brain cells – latest findings from the Sant Pau Research Programme

        Our collaborator Dr Jordi Riba presented these ground-breaking results at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics Research last week in Amsterdam. The results are, as yet, unpublished but you can have a sneak peak at the slides from Jordi Riba’s presentation here.

        The study was conducted within the framework of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme and in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council. In the study participated the following researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): Jose Morales-García, María Isabel Rodriguez-Franco, Ana Pérez-Castillo and Mario de la Fuente Revenga. They found that harmine and tetrahydroharmine, the alkaloids present in highest amounts in ayahuasca, stimulate the growth and maturation of neurons and promote their birth from the stem cells.

        For a long time, a dogma has persisted that no new neurons are born in the brains of adults. Since the late 1990’s, this dated paradigm has been challenged by experimental evidence. The birth of new neurons, known as neurogenesis, occurs in two brain areas: around the ventricles and in a region of the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays a key role in important cognitive tasks such as learning and memory. Its function declines with the normal aging process, but does so much more dramatically in the presence of certain devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

        This is the first study ever conducted that demonstrates that components of the Ayahuasca brew have potent neurogenic properties. Although the results are preliminary, they show that the addition of harmine and tetrahydroharmine to cell cultures containing neural stem cells dramatically increased their differentiation, and their maturation into neurons.

        We are currently conducting additional experiments to discern the magnitude of the observed effects, as well as undertaking studies on live animals.

        The replication of the present findings in vivo would open a totally new avenue of research for ayahuasca and its active principles. Potential applications would range from treating neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, to redressing brain damage associated with stroke or trauma.

        Watch the space for latest updates on the progress of this study.

        By Amanda Feilding
        Director of the Beckley Foundation and Co-director with Jordi Riba, of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme
        16th June 2016

        Jordi Riba explains the latest findings, illustrating them with the beautiful images below:

        What you are seeing is a “static picture” taken after several days of treatment of the stem cells with the different compounds. No neurons were present prior to the three different tretments: a) saline (water+salt); b) harmine; and c) tetrahydroharmine



        The first image is the control, when only salty water (saline) added to the cell cultures. The nuclei of the stem cells can be seen in blue.These stem cells have been treated with saline for several days and only a few have developed into young neurons (the few green sports in the image).



        The second image shows the results after several days of treatment with harmine: blue is still present because it’s a marker of cell nuclei, and all cells have nuclei (stem cells and neurons). The green spots are the young neurons marked using Tuj1 staining (this staining is specific for “neuron-specific class III beta-tubulin) present in recently created neurons. The red spots show more mature neurons. The staining marks the “microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2). Its presence increases during neuron development.



        The third image shows the results obtained after several days of treatment with tetrahydroharmine. The meaning of the colors is the same.

        Jordi Riba
        Head of the Human Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group at Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona and a co-director with Amanda Feilding, of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme
        June 2016


        Ayahuasca ALS Treatment Pilot Study:

        Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

        Comment


          #5
          New science as of June 16th 2016:

          From Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

          Scientists find that Ayahuasca stimulates the birth of new brain cells – latest findings from the Sant Pau Research Programme

          Our collaborator Dr Jordi Riba presented these ground-breaking results at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics Research last week in Amsterdam. The results are, as yet, unpublished but you can have a sneak peak at the slides from Jordi Riba’s presentation here.

          The study was conducted within the framework of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme and in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council. In the study participated the following researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): Jose Morales-García, María Isabel Rodriguez-Franco, Ana Pérez-Castillo and Mario de la Fuente Revenga. They found that harmine and tetrahydroharmine, the alkaloids present in highest amounts in ayahuasca, stimulate the growth and maturation of neurons and promote their birth from the stem cells.

          For a long time, a dogma has persisted that no new neurons are born in the brains of adults. Since the late 1990’s, this dated paradigm has been challenged by experimental evidence. The birth of new neurons, known as neurogenesis, occurs in two brain areas: around the ventricles and in a region of the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays a key role in important cognitive tasks such as learning and memory. Its function declines with the normal aging process, but does so much more dramatically in the presence of certain devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

          This is the first study ever conducted that demonstrates that components of the Ayahuasca brew have potent neurogenic properties. Although the results are preliminary, they show that the addition of harmine and tetrahydroharmine to cell cultures containing neural stem cells dramatically increased their differentiation, and their maturation into neurons.

          We are currently conducting additional experiments to discern the magnitude of the observed effects, as well as undertaking studies on live animals.

          The replication of the present findings in vivo would open a totally new avenue of research for ayahuasca and its active principles. Potential applications would range from treating neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, to redressing brain damage associated with stroke or trauma.

          By Amanda Feilding
          Director of the Beckley Foundation and Co-director with Jordi Riba, of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme
          16th June 2016

          Jordi Riba explains the latest findings, illustrating them with the beautiful images below:

          What you are seeing is a “static picture” taken after several days of treatment of the stem cells with the different compounds. No neurons were present prior to the three different tretments: a) saline (water+salt); b) harmine; and c) tetrahydroharmine




          The first image is the control, when only salty water (saline) added to the cell cultures. The nuclei of the stem cells can be seen in blue.These stem cells have been treated with saline for several days and only a few have developed into young neurons (the few green sports in the image).




          The second image shows the results after several days of treatment with harmine: blue is still present because it’s a marker of cell nuclei, and all cells have nuclei (stem cells and neurons). The green spots are the young neurons marked using Tuj1 staining (this staining is specific for “neuron-specific class III beta-tubulin) present in recently created neurons. The red spots show more mature neurons. The staining marks the “microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2). Its presence increases during neuron development.




          The third image shows the results obtained after several days of treatment with tetrahydroharmine. The meaning of the colors is the same.

          Jordi Riba
          Head of the Human Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group at Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona and a co-director with Amanda Feilding, of the Beckley/Sant Pau Research Programme
          June 2016


          Ayahuasca ALS Treatment Pilot Study:

          Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

          Comment

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