Cognitive Labs

tongue in cheek: Tang gets a new delivery method-Flickr

At SRI International's Center for Research on Independent Aging Dr. William Frey of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota ADRC (Alzheimer's Disease Research Center) presented novel research into intra-nasal drug delivery yesterday- Cognitive Labs was there. Dr. Frey's discoveries center on the recognition that the olfactory nerves form a direct pathway into the brain, bypassing the blood brain barrier. Dr. Frey started the first ADRC in the nation-which was the first to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1977.

The blood brain barrier is a permeable molecular sieve that permits beneficial compounds to enter the brain from the bloodstream, while preventing larger diameter compounds from entering-including some pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

You may think of a cocaine or meth addict snorting away. In so doing they bypass the blood brain barrier and reach the brain directly. For this same reason the sense of smell is closely aligned with memory and cognition - as odor 'signals' traverse the nerve pathways to the brain. Memory Loss is often accompanied by a loss of sense of smell. Anything that affects the brain can enter through the nasal cavity (including the recent cases of warm-water deaths in the U.S. due to a hostile amoeba that uses this same pathway). Odd and distinctive odors may be linked to changes in cognitive state, such as the smell of sulphur and ozone.

Intra-nasal delivery may be the wave of the future in cognitive enhancement. Rather than drinking your sports drink, or on a more serious note...your neuro-enhancer - you may snort it.

Labels: adrc, cokaine, frey, meth, snorting