Fasting, less sugar or less fat feeding neurology

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The values of weight loss with a CR version of intermittent fasting in the below

paper appreared to differ from the values for regular CR.

The pdf-available below paper examines how the intermittent fasting method of

obtaining CR may protect the brain from damage. It seems that the potentially

eneficial action of a factor, called interferon-gamma (INF-gamma)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon-gamma, that is used by our immune system

to

fight infection are greater in CRed rats in analyses of the levels of INF-gamma

and

its receptor in the hippocampus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus.

As an introduction, " IFN-gamma is an important mediator neuronal plasticity.

For

example, IFN-gamma may enhance synaptogenesis (Brask et al., [2004]) and

regulate

synaptic plasticity (Vikman et al., [2001]) and neurogenesis (Improta et al.,

[1988]; Wong et al., [2004]). Although the expression of IFN-gamma in the brain

is

very low under normal conditions, IFN-gamma receptors are expressed in neurons

(Neumann et al., [1997]). It was recently reported that levels of IFN-gamma are

increased in circulating leukocytes of monkeys that had been maintained on a CR

diet

(Mascarucci et al., [2002]). "

Lee J, Kim SJ, Son TG, Chan SL, Mattson MP.

Interferon-gamma is up-regulated in the hippocampus in response to intermittent

fasting and protects hippocampal neurons against excitotoxicity.

J Neurosci Res. 2006 Mar 6; [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 16521127

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & dopt=Abstra\

ct & list_uids=16521127 & query_hl=1 & itool=pubmed_docsum

Dietary restriction (DR) increases the life span of many different organisms,

and

recent findings have demonstrated neuroprotective effects of DR in rodent and

nonhuman primate models of neurodegenerative disorders. The neuroprotective

mechanism of action of DR is unknown, but it may result from a mild cellular

stress

response involving increased production of neurotrophic factors. Because several

different cytokines are known to be up-regulated in brain cells in response to

stress, we determined whether DR affected cytokine expression in the rat brain.

Levels of expression of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and its receptor were

significantly increased in the hippocampus of rats that had been maintained on

an

intermittent fasting DR regimen compared with rats on the ad libitum control

diet.

Pretreatment of embryonic rat hippocampal cell cultures with IFN-gamma protected

neurons against glutamate-induced death. IFN-gamma-mediated neuroprotection was

associated with an enhanced recovery of intracellular Ca(2+) concentrations

following exposure to glutamate. Our data show that intermittent fasting DR

stimulates IFN-gamma-mediated neuroprotective signaling in the hippocampus,

suggesting a role for this cytokine in the previously reported ability of DR to

protect neurons in animal models of severe epileptic seizures, stroke, and

neurodegenerative disorders.

.... Adult (3 months old) male Sprague-Dawley rats (Harlan Sprague Dawley) were

maintained under temperature- and light-controlled conditions (20-23°C, 12 hr

light/12 hr dark cycle). Rats were divided into two groups, an ad libitum (AL)

group, which had continuous access to food, and an IF group, which was deprived

of

food on alternate days ... The body weights of the rats after 3 months on their

diets were AL, 403 ± 8.5 g; IF, 360 ± 10.9 g (P < 0.01; paired t-test). ...

.... rats on IF consumed approximately 25% fewer calories ...

-- Al Pater, alpater@...

-- Al Pater, PhD; email: old542000@...

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