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Better Learning Through Zinc

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday March 22 2017, @03:54PM   
from the what-about-caffeine? dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Zinc is a vital micronutrient involved in many cellular processes: For example, in learning and memory processes, it plays a role that is not yet understood. By using nanoelectrochemical measurements, Swedish researchers have made progress toward understanding by demonstrating that zinc influences the release of messenger molecules. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, zinc changes the number of messenger molecules stored in vesicles and the dynamics of their release from the cell.

When signals are transmitted by synapses, messenger molecules (neurotransmitters) are released from storage chambers (synaptic vesicles) into the synaptic cleft, where they are "recognized" by neighboring nerve cells. This release is based on exocytosis: The vesicle docks at the cell membrane, opens at the point of contact, releases part of its contents to the outside, closes, and separates from the plasma membrane so it can be refilled.

Treatment with zinc results in more messenger molecules being released.

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Original Submission

• zinc (Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Saturday March 25 2017, @07:12PM

  by SlimmPickens (1056) on Saturday March 25 2017, @07:12PM (#484163)

  Discovering zinc has been an absolute revelation for me. I don't have time to reference all this, but here goes.

  Zinc has other important roles. The zinc finger proteins have diverse and important roles. The rate of neurogenesis in the hippocampus is affected by low zinc levels, affecting memory in another way to that mentioned in TFA. It is also a cofactor for glutathione, an extremely important peptide with powerful antioxidant, detoxification and metal chellating capabilities produced by almost every living cell. A protein called metallothionein that is antioxidant, a metal chellator and in the gut controls microflora also is zinc rich.

  For many with a zinc deficiency metalothionein is the reason. Antiobiotics and perhaps wheat disrupt gut microflora, that leads to low zinc absorbtion which in turn leads to less metallothionein creating a vicious cycle.

  Typically low zinc levels will not be detected in blood tests because the body uses metallothionein a reserve. Signs of being low on zinc:

  - big pores
  - acne
  - slow healing wounds
  - yeast on the tounge and throat
  - poorly functioning memory

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