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Choline + Uridine: Build New Neurons and Protect Against Alzheimer’s!
Beyond membrane repair
Uridine’s conversion to CDP-choline in the brain makes additional choline available throughout the brain. So uridine doesn’t just build new neurons and repair damaged ones. It also acts as an additional source of choline throughout the brain.
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This additional choline increases production of ACh.10 Lower ACh production is not just a symptom of age-related mental decline. It is also an important marker for Alzheimer’s disease. (More about this dreadful scourge shortly.)
In addition to increasing ACh synthesis directly by providing additional choline, uridine administration also increases the production of another neurotransmitter, dopamine. 11 Wurtman and his colleagues propose that this dopamine increase could be due the uridine-promoted increase in neuronal membrane synthesis.
This is a lot to absorb … Let’s make it a little easier. Here’s a quick look at how uridine works in your brain’s self-maintenance program.
Table 1: Uridine's Effects in the Brain |
|
Gets synthesized into PC via CDP-choline intermediary |
|
Repairs and rebuilds neuronal membrane |
|
Enhances synthesis of synaptic brain proteins |
|
Increases production of neurites and dendrites |
|
Makes additional choline available through synthesis of CDP-choline |
|
Increases synthesis of ACh |
|
Increases levels of dopamine (neurotransmitter) |
Your brain’s self-maintenance system is constantly under attack … but you can win the fight!
A fitting question right now might be which is more important: choline or uridine? The simple answer is both!
These two compounds work together synergistically to keep your brain functioning at top pitch. The effect of both of them working together is greater—far greater at times—than each working separately.
The take away is this:
Your brain’s remarkable ability to repair, maintain, and build membranes and to synthesize neurotransmitters is dependent on having adequate levels of both choline and uridine in your body.
But natural levels of choline and uridine in your body decrease with age, environmental assault, and disease. When this happens, your self-maintenance system slows or breaks down.
“Your brain’s remarkable ability to repair, maintain, and build membranes and to synthesize neurotransmitters is dependent on having adequate levels of both choline and uridine in your body.”
However, this steady, age-related decline is reversible. Most of the experiments proving this have been performed on animals.
Impoverished … sick … old all improved with supplementation
But the conclusions from these experiments are clear. In one experiment, animals were raised in what were termed “impoverished conditions.” Exposure to the impoverished environment impaired certain types of learning and memory. Supplementation with uridine prevented these cognitive problems. These same researchers observed similar results when impoverished animals were treated with choline.12
Similar improvement in behavior was found in aged animals13 and in animals that had developed cognitive problems due to spontaneous hypertension when treated with combined choline and uridine.14
In reporting their findings on aged animals, the researchers stated:
“In conclusion, the present data suggest that chronic dietary supplementation with UMP [uridine] might prove a useful therapeutic strategy to delay or diminish the cognitive deficits associated with poor environmental conditions or aging, as well as the changes in membrane lipid composition associated with the aging process. Because the membrane lipid composition can be significantly affected by the aging process, it is feasible that the protective function may arise from UMP’s ability to enhance the production of brain membrane phosphatides.” {ref15}
It’s easy to get lost in the scientific jargon. But what the scientists at MIT are saying is that you have far less to worry about when it comes to the “inevitable” age-related mental decline.
Feed your brain’s self-maintenance system with uridine and choline, and it will take good care of your cognitive ability silently, behind the scenes.
Get the most muscle out of choline’s power
If you’ve been using nutritional supplements for long, you know that not all forms of a supplement are necessarily the same. Some forms work better than others.
That’s true of choline. The most effective form for supplementation is alpha-gycerylphosphorylcholine (GPC). GPC is not the ordinary form of choline we’ve been hearing about (or even taking) for years. It is a source of both phospholipids (the prime building blocks of life) and choline.
GPC is water-soluble. After it’s ingested it quickly passes the blood/brain barrier into the brain, where it protects neurons and improves signal transmission.
It supports brain function and learning processes by directly increasing the synthesis and secretion of acetylcholine, as your body needs it.
Here’s a brief glance at what GPC has been shown to accomplish:
- Improve memory and learning ability in laboratory animals16
- Counteract brain aging in animals by increasing cholinergic receptor sites17
- Restore the bioavailability of acetylcholine18
- Increase nerve growth factor receptors in the brain19
- Slow down undesirable structural changes in the brain20
- Counter the age-related loss of nerve cells and fibers in the brain
- Protect the brain and other organs against toxic waste buildup
- Increase growth hormone secretion in both the young and the old21
- Increase the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine 22
- Improve memory and cognitive performance in patients with Alzheimer's dementia23
Unlike choline, uridine works best in its native form … just plain uridine. You’ve already seen uridine’s power in Table 1. But just for a reminder, once uridine enters the brain, it’s converted to a form of choline called GDP-choline. As such, it achieves all the accomplishments of choline listed above, plus …
- Enhances synthesis of synaptic brain proteins
- Increases production of neurites and dendrites
- Makes additional choline available through synthesis of CDP-choline
- Increases levels of dopamine (neurotransmitter)
What about the scourge of Alzheimer’s?
Uridine and choline are so effective as part of your brain’s self-maintenance program, you can’t help wonder if they could be effective against Alzheimer’s.
In fact, many of the signs of Alzheimer’s—such as damaged, shrunken synapses—are similar to the damage seen in the laboratory studies at MIT.
The clinical studies that have been done—such as the one reported by Parnetti and others in the journal Drugs and Aging—show good promise.24 But the problem is there haven’t been enough clinical studies treating Alzheimer’s patients with choline or uridine to be able to make a clear determination about their potential benefits.
However, uridine’s ability to enhance synaptic membrane levels—especially when administered with omega-3 polyunsaturated fats—is exciting. The MIT researchers have speculated that this combination may enhance synaptic levels in “patients with neurodegenerative diseases …”.25
The final word on keeping your brain in peak condition …
Your body is a remarkable piece of work. Considering how soft and vulnerable it should be, it has amazing powers of self-healing, self-repair, and self-maintenance.
Nowhere is this ability to heal itself seen better than in your brain’s self-maintenance program. Given the potential fragileness of your neural structures, it is amazing that we are able to keep the high level of brainpower for as long as we do.
And that’s thanks to the relatively simple self-maintenance system you’ve seen at work today.
However, this self-maintenance system lies victim to the same assaults of aging, environmental toxins, free radicals, and diseases that the rest of your body does. But in this case, you have control over the fate of your brain’s self-maintenance system. If you feed it properly with choline and uridine, you are giving it the nutrients it needs to work at peak efficiency.
And when your brain’s self-maintenance system works at peak efficiency … so do you
Editor's Note:
The natural health solutions described in this article are available through many on-line retailers including those listed below. By clicking these links you help support the important alternative health research we provide.
Visit www.amazon.com – a great way to find competitive deals on supplements offered by many different manufacturers.
Visit www.hfn-usa.com – when commitment to quality and freshness is important, this factory direct solution is preferred by many of our readers.
This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult with a physician before embarking on a dietary supplement program.
References
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Canal, N, et al. Effect of L-gyceryl-phopshorylcholine on amnesia caused by scopolamine. Intl J Clin Pharmacol Ther Toxicol. 1991; 29;103-7.
Canal, N, et al. Comparison of the effects of pretreatment with choline alfoscerate, idebenone, aniracetam, and placebo on scopalomine-iduced amnesia. Le Basi Razionali della Terapia. 1993;23;:102-7.
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Wurtman, R J, et al. Synaptic proteins and phospholipids are increased in gerbil brain by administering uridine plus docosahexaenoic acid orally. Brain Research. 2006;1088;83 - 92.
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Wurtman RJ. Choline metabolism as a basis for the selective vulnerability of cholinergic neurons. Trends Neurosci. 1992;15(4):117-22.
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Michalek H, Fortuna S, Pintor A. Age-related differences in brain choline acetyltransferase, cholinesterases and muscarinic receptor sites in two strains of rats. Neurobiol Aging. 1989 Mar-Apr;10(2):143-8.
Abstract
B. M. Cohen, P. F. Renshaw, A. L. Stoll, R. J. Wurtman, D. Decreased brain choline uptake in older adults. An in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. JAMA. Vol. 274 No. 11, September 20, 1995.
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Lisa A. Teathe and Richard J. Wurtman. Chronic Administration of UMP Ameliorates the Impairment of Hippocampal-Dependent Memory in Impoverished Rats. Journal of Nutrition; (2006); 136; 2834-2837.
Abstract
De Bruin NM, Kiliaan AJ, De Wilde MC, Broersen LM. Combined uridine and choline administration improves cognitive deficits in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. Volume 80, Issue 1, July 2003, Pages 63-79.
Abstract -
Canal, N, et al. Comparison of the effects of pretreatment with choline alfoscerate, idebenone, aniracetam, and placebo on scopalomine-iduced amnesia. Le Basi Razionali della Terapia. 1993;23;:102-7.
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Wurtman RJ, Ulus IH, Cansev M, et al. Synaptic proteins and phospholipids are increased in gerbil brain by administering uridine plus docosahexaenoic acid orally. Brain Res. 2006 May 9;1088(1):83-92.
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Lei Wang, Amy M. Pooler, Meredith A. Albrecht, and Richard J. Wurtman. Dietary Uridine-5’-Monophosphate Supplementation Increases Potassium-Evoked Dopamine Release and Promotes Neurite Outgrowth in Aged Rats. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience. September 2005, Volume 27, Issue 1, pps. 137-146.
Abstract
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M. Cansev and R. J. Wurtman. Chronic administration of docosahexaenoic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid, but not arachidonic acid, alone or in combination with uridine, increases brain phosphatide and synaptic protein levels in gerbils.Neuroscience 148 (2007) 421–431.
Abstract
Richard J. Wurtman, Ismail H. Ulus, Mehmet Cansev, Carol J. Watkins, Lei Wang, George Marzloff. Synaptic proteins and phospholipids are increased in gerbil brain by administering uridine plus docosahexaenoic acid orally. Brain Research, 1088 (2006), 83-92.
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Parnetti L, Abate G, Bartorelli L, Cucinotta D, Cuzzupoli M, Maggioni, M, Villardita C, Senin U. Multicentre study of l-alpha-glyceryl-phosphorylcholine vs ST200 among patients with probable senile dementia of Alzheimer’s type. Drugs Aging 1993 Mar-Apr;3(2):159-64.
-
Parnetti L, Abate G, Bartorelli L, Cucinotta D, Cuzzupoli M, Maggioni, M, Villardita C, Senin U. Multicentre study of l-alpha-glyceryl-phosphorylcholine vs ST200 among patients with probable senile dementia of Alzheimer’s type. Drugs Aging 1993 Mar-Apr;3(2):159-64.
-
M. Cansev and R. J. Wurtman. Chronic administration of docosahexaenoic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid, but not arachidonic acid, alone or in combination with uridine, increases brain phosphatide and synaptic protein levels in gerbils.Neuroscience 148 (2007) 421–431.