Comment · Tue, February 10, 2026 · ND Owner
Curious on y'alls thoughts on this. I spoke to a ayurveda person (ayurveda is where Ashwagandha and Bacopa come from) and he was like for thousands of years we put the herbs into food and ate it long-term and not made extracts out of it. Should we have skepticism over extracts with this logic maybe?
What they were answering
DoctorBoneMarrow · 3 points
Thank you!
Vitamin D is deficient in a lot of people, and it affects dopaminergic signaling, so that would be an easy one to add in
And deficiency is linked with more severe symptoms in children with tics disorders (including Tourette's). It's impressive how often low vitamin D is associated with worse outcomes in conditions unrelated to bone health.
There is a popular study that shows Risperidone improves stuttering in part by activating striatal astrocytes and increasing their metabolism: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.598949/full
The authors propose that these activated astrocytes help inhibit overactive dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia.
If your main goal were targeting hypoactive astrocytes, what would you try?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
That risperidone study is actually pretty compelling for showing astrocyte metabolism matters in the basal ganglia. If I were targeting hypoactive astrocytes specifically, here's what I'd try:
* Lion's Mane- The hericenones and erinacines directly stimulate NGF synthesis from astrocytes. This is one of the few supplements where we actually have a mechanism for astrocyte activation. I'd probably combine our 1:1 or 8:1 with Erinamax.
* Creatine- Brain creatine kinase is mostly in astrocytes, not neurons. It's their ATP buffer system. Takes 4-8 weeks to build up brain stores since BBB penetration is slow, but it's fundamental for their energy metabolism.
* Sulforaphane- Here's something most people miss: Nrf2 activation happens predominantly in astrocytes, not neurons. It's actually a feedback loop where neuronal activity regulates astrocytic Nrf2 through glutamate signaling.
* NAC- Protects astrocytes from proteotoxic stress independent of its glutathione effects. It preserves Hsp70 chaperone activity which is critical for protein quality control in these cells.
* Magnesium L-Threonate- Increases brain magnesium. Astrocyte energy metabolism depends on magnesium for hundreds of enzymatic reactions.
I'd also consider Na-R-ALA for mitochondrial support and luteolin (100mg) since it's one of the top flavonoids for inducing NGF/GDNF/BDNF from astrocytes. The mechanism is through estrogen receptor phosphorylation.
Now, important caveat: that study shows activated astrocytes then INHIBIT overactive dopaminergic neurons. So just blindly "activating" astrocytes without understanding the downstream effects could be problematic. These supplements work through different mechanisms than D2 antagonism, so the effects might not be identical to what risperidone does. Also, we don't have human trials specifically testing "astrocyte activation" as an endpoint. These are extrapolations from cell culture and animal studies. The mechanistic rationale is solid, but keep that in mind.