Caffeine Mental Performance Enhancer

[Stephenwolf]

well according to a japanese study Caffeine enhances memory.

Caffeine enhances memory-forming brain cells, researchers find

Nerve cells in a part of the brain involved in memory and learning form memories with the same mechanism in which heart muscle cells contract, and that movement is enhanced by caffeine, it has emerged.

The finding was announced by a research team including members of Hokkaido University, and carried in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on Tuesday.

Haruyuki Kamiya, a neurobiology professor at Hokkaido University, and the other researchers added caffeine to a section of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in storing and processing memory, in mice. They found calcium in cells increased as a result, and the signal flow in their neural networks improved in a time frame of 30 to 60 minutes.

It is believed that the calcium concentration increased due to increased activity of proteins called type-2 ryanodine receptors. These proteins exist in significant quantities in heart muscle cells, and cause the release of calcium ions that are stored in organelles, or cell subunits, causing the muscles to contract.

The research team believes that the formation of memories in the brain's hippocampus was enhanced through the same mechanism as heart muscle cell contractions.

This, however, doesn't mean people can boost their memories by simply drinking a cup of caffeine-filled coffee.

"In the experiment we used a high concentration of caffeine, so drinking a cup of coffee wouldn't have any effect on the memory. But we may be able to develop medicines to treat dementia or other conditions from a substance that operates in the same way as caffeine," Kamiya said.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/arch...na016000c.html

[Beeker]

With the Japanese and their work ethic the market for any stimulants, legal or not, is extremely high.

I have no idea why amphetamines are not prescribed over there or why shabu (slang word for any amphetamine) was ever made illegal in Japan. Especially with the US, of all places, still filling prescriptions for so many methylphenethylamine based stimulants ... which I'm thankful for!