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A comment on Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried. Parent comment

Re:Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried by halorhodopsin on Friday June 14, 2013 @05:35PM (#5882664)
i'm not convinced. the "high" of alcohol and benzodiazepenes is caused by GABA receptor agonism. the "high" of MDMA is caused by serotonin reuptake inhibition and dopamine release. the "high" of Ketamine is caused by NMDA receptor antagonism. the "high" of psychedelics like LSD or DMT are caused by a unique cocktail of selective agonism of serotonin, dopamine, and adrenergic receptor subtypes, and so on.

the one common element is that all "highs" are caused by ligands with very specific molecular properties binding to neurotransmitters. a headband will never be able to bind to a neurotransmitter.

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Re:Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried by ChuckMcM on Friday June 14, 2013 @06:04PM (#5882783)
It is true you cannot bind to a neurotransmitter from a headband. The research that these efforts are based on involved direct activation of the neuron ganglia by inducing currents in them through the absorption of electromagnetic energy (in the case of DBS) and by increasing electron flow in the case of tDCS).

Hiker and Voger's work [1] (and a bunch of others, just look for DBS and dopamine) which looks at Dopamine response and Gandiga and Hummel [2] who look at tDCS and whether its effects are effective in neuroretraining, or in the case of our hobbyists, enhancing existing neurotraining.

[1] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.10297/abstrac...

[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245705...

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Re:Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried by halorhodopsin on Friday June 14, 2013 @07:15PM (#5883086)
hmm. tDCS and DBS are certainly really interesting technologies, but i still don't see them having any recreational mechanism. in the case that they can act as monoamine releasing agents, the absolute best case is that you can make a meth-band.

the second study is completely irrelevant to the point you were trying to make. not trying to be mean but i just don't understand how a study about the efficacy of tDCS in studies is related to possible recreational effects from tDCS/DBS.

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Re:Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried by nitrogen on Friday June 14, 2013 @07:27PM (#5883127)
What is the difference if you find a way to switch on the neurons that make you believe your neurochemistry has changed?
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Re:Do It Yourself Brain Stimulation has Scientists Worried by s_baby on Friday June 14, 2013 @08:33PM (#5883333)
>psychedelics like LSD or DMT are caused by a unique cocktail of selective agonism of serotonin, dopamine, and adrenergic receptor subtypes, and so on.

LSD breaks down almost instantly in the body yet the effects continue on for 10-12 hours. Receptor binding might be a trigger for these states but it's a stretch to say it's central to the bio-molecular cascade that then produces these states.

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