Posted by Larry Hoover on May 30, 2006, at 9:23:05
In reply to Re: Ginkgo increase serotonin uptake, posted by Questionmark on May 21, 2006, at 1:03:34
> Wow, interesting info. ... Wait, this was from 1992? Why hasn't it been more widely discussed that Gingko extract is/can be a serotonin reuptake enhancer?
Good question, but I bet the answer is right in front of us. The opening sentence of the abstract says: "The Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) ... modified [3H]5-hydroxytryptamine ([3H]5-HT) uptake in a biphasic manner." Then they go on to only describe one phase.
They didn't tell us about the other dose-response effect. I'm going to have to presume it was not a positive effect, without having a chance to read the entire paper.
> > Do you know why ginkgo makes me so hungry? It also makes me really motivated (too much so!) - usually serotonin stuff makes me relaxed and non-interested. It must be very complicated.
> >
> > Loops
>
> This is totally compatible with the abstract. It shows that Ginkgo extract probably has serotonin uptake *increasing* properties, therefore resulting in less intrasynaptic serotonin (i.e., it works the opposite of SSRIs and similar to tianeptine/Stablon).A dose-dependent reuptake enhancement.
If you do a Pubmed search on "egb 761" you'll find over 500 hits. I am not negative about the use of ginkgo. It is "good medicine". It is the Western trend to isolate one characteristic of the herb that disturbs me. Herbs are "many drugs", all at the same time.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:638205
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060428/msgs/650391.html