Comment · Mon, April 1, 2013 · Ceretropic
Has anyone tried N-acetylcysteine or N-Acetylcysteine amide?
Original post in this thread
ontodynamics · 19 points
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23538074
N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is a precursor to the essential amino acid, cysteine. Unlike cysteine, NAC can penetrate the blood-brain barrier such that by oral supplementation, it can increase blood and brain levels of cysteine. Preclinical data, case reports, and clinical studies indicate potential benefits of NAC for the treatment of addictions, bipolar depression, schizophrenia, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), tri-chotillomania, nail biting, skin picking, overdoses, and environmental toxic exposures.
NAC plays important roles in metabolic pathways believed to contribute to psychi-atric disorders:
1. By increasing levels of brain cysteine, NAC was able to modulate glutamatergic and dopaminergic pathways. In vitro studies show a reduction in synaptic release of glutamate and an increase in dopamine release.
2. Oxidative stress has been implicated as contributing to psychiatric disorders.
Glutathione (GSH) is the body’s main endogenous antioxidant. As a precursor to GSH, NAC has been widely used to replenish GSH, for example in the treatment of acetaminophen overdose. In addition, NAC directly scavenges reactive ox…
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Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Yes, I use N-acetylcystine all the time. It's the best thing to take for liver protection. I've used it for years when on nights out drinking. I was actually a groomsman at a wedding this weekend, and was handing NAC capsules out to everyone. Everyone was drinking extreme amounts of alcohol, and were partying till 5am. However, come 10:30am everyone was up for brunch and feeling fine. People trust me to bring all the supplements for various occasions now. I actually had little baggies with various vitamins and antioxidants in my tux jacket. You can never be too prepared!