Ask HN: Opinions on latest crop of "nootropic" compounds – TrkB agonist etc.?
Now there's a bunch more products going around the biohacking community, some of them research drugs for alheizmers, depression, etc. that are still being tested by pharmas, or stuff from Russian neuroscience.
I won't name specific products, but these are the areas and why they supposedly work:
- TrkB positive allosteric modulators: Boosts BDNF signalling leading to LTP & memory formation; "plasticity"
- PDE4D NAMs: boosts cAMP signaling
- 5-HT4 partial agonist: Fast cAMP/CREB lift for mood & motivation
- AMPA receptor PAM: Rapid attention/focus bump and next-day consolidation
- M1 muscarinic PAM: cholinergic memory enhancement
- A2A receptor inverse agonist: “Caffeine without crash”
- CCK-B receptor antagonist peptide: anti-anxiety peptide
- α7-nAChR co-agonist: Nicotine-like sensory clarity
- non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A "Psychoplastogens": Ketamine-like synaptic growth minus trip
- NMDA glycine-site PAM: clear thinking without jitters
I consider the classic nootropics (racetams) to be pretty much bunk. Is there any reason to think these might actually work?
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