CM#5 Nootropics & Neurotrophic Peptides - Ultimate Guide - Architect of Resilience

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the Architect of Resilience podcast, where we
explore the secrets of overcoming life's challenges and
unlocking unstoppable strength through. Deep personal
conversations and expert insights. Yeah.
Welcome to the show. It is Duffin and Castor ready
to talk more around cellular

(00:22):
medicine. And today I'm super excited. This is one of
my favorite areas to discuss. It
is cognitive peptides and nootropics. And I
think that there's some vast kind of misunderstanding
around some of the products and what they they are
in this period where a lot of people are thinking these things are similar to,

(00:43):
you know, a lot of, you know, supplements or drugs that we're familiar with on
the market that enhance
more stimulant base. So let's start with
Anthony. Maybe I'll start with an introduction,
and then maybe we can go back and forth. We've got a list of peptides
that we're going to discuss today, so just kind of go back and forth on

(01:06):
that. Does that sound like a decent approach? Yeah, I think that's
perfect. Excellent. So, in recent
years, cognitive peptides and nootropics have gained immense
popularity for their ability to enhance mental performance,
support brain health, and provide neuroprotection. These compounds have
been wildly sought after by professionals, students, and individuals looking

(01:28):
to boost their memory and focus learning and overall cognitive
function. Understanding the difference between these two
categories, peptides and nootropics, is
crucial for appreciating the unique roles in brain
enhancement. So what are peptides and nootropics
peptides? Well, I hope that you're familiar with that based on

(01:49):
listening to this podcast to date. But our short chain of amino acids
acting as single molecules in the body. And when it comes to
cognitive function, cognitive peptides influence the brain's health by
promoting neurogenesis. That's the growth of
new neurons. So that the word I like to use for that
is neurotrophic, which we're going

(02:11):
to get, which is different than nootropic. So what they do
is they enhance synaptic plasticity, the brain's ability to
form new neural connections and protecting neurons
from damage. So many of these peptides, like C Max,
cerebralysin, dihexa, are designed to improve memory, learning, and
recovery from brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.

(02:34):
Now, nootropics, this term refers to
substances that enhance cognitive performance with minimal side
effects. So nootropics can be synthetic, like
modafinil, pyrositime, neopept, or
natural, like caffeine or ginkgo biloba, and they
primarily improve focus, memory and mental clarity.

(02:56):
The nootropics are often used to increase mental stamina, alertness
and productivity, especially during long periods of
cognitive effort.
The roles that these peptides and nootropics on cognitive function, both,
both of them optimize different aspects of brain function,
often through various mechanisms such as modulating neurotransmitter

(03:19):
activity, increasing blood flow to the brain and promoting the growth of new
neurons. So peptides like cerebralysin,
synapsin, RG3 enhance neuroplasticity and synapsis
formulation, improving the brain's ability to adapt, learn and
recover from damage. Where the nootropics such as modafidil
and piracetime primarily increase

(03:41):
neurotransmitter activity like dopamine, acetylcholine,
which we've talked about and I think the last podcast quite a
bit, and orexin, which we have not, but we're gonna dive into
today to boost focus, wakefulness and
cognitive endurance. So understand nootropics are
short term effect.

(04:03):
The peptides and the neurotrophic compounds
have a longer lasting impact on the
brain itself and actually improving it.
So you think about, let's think about like
caffeine and training. If you take some caffeine, typically you can
entrain, you can, you can run a little

(04:25):
longer. Right. But it's not going to add any muscle
mass. Right. So that would be the difference you
got to think about. Your neurotrophic is actually helping build that muscle mass.
It may not help as much in the short term as a
nootropic that is, is, you know that that's going to have
that immediate impact. Like caffeine is going to have an immediate impact on like

(04:47):
your running distance or sensation of
fatigue. Right. But it is not going to
help you with the long term of that.
Do you want to cover the overview of the peptides we're going to talk about
today, Anthony? Sure. We've got a number that we're going to be
covering today. Some, some of them are going to be

(05:08):
peptides and some of them are considered small molecules or
like the synapsins. It's a
ginsenoside, so it comes from a type of ginseng.
And each of them kind of has their own benefits and everything.
I guess, building off of what Chris said, when we think about
why do we take these things and what are the benefits we're going to get

(05:29):
from them, some of them are going to be neurotransmitter
modulators, some of them are going to protect
so the neuroprotection, they're going to prevent damage
in brain cells by reducing like oxidative stress,
inflammation, excited toxicity. Some of them actually
create like synaptogenesis, neuroplasticity

(05:52):
and some of them work as a growth factor.
So like brain drop neurotropic factor
and the dihexa we'll talk about is a
hepatocyte growth factor. Hepatitis like liver.
And some of them protect that blood brain barrier permeability.

(06:12):
So there's really, it's going to come together as we're going through these peptides
and this is why it's so exciting I think that
it's not like there's one that's best or
just do this one and your brain's going to be perfect. You really
start to see how depending on what you want to address in terms
of getting optimal brain function,

(06:36):
efficient recall and all the things that we want our
brain to be able to do. Executive function, there might be one or there might
be a combination and you can kind of use
these cyclically and in fact
there's even some cool stuff we'll cover about some of
these being used for like if we're in a neural phase of

(06:58):
training things that can improve like rate coding and
even local neural intervention into the muscle
tissue. So yeah, I can't wait to unpack this.
Excellent.
So before we start diving into the first in the
list, you know, why are these compounds gaining attention? Well there's been growing

(07:21):
interest in peptides and nootropics for their unique ability to enhance cognitive
function while it providing neuroprotection.
Here are some of the reasons they're gaining attention in regards to. So those would
be cognitive enhancement, neuroprotection
and also just the growth in the scientific
support and literature. So people on the cognitive side,

(07:43):
people are increasingly looking for safe ways to improve focus, memory and learning.
Nootropics like Modafinil and new Pept offer these benefits without the
harsh side effects associated with traditional stimulants like caffeine and
amphetamines. That may surprise you when I mentioned
Modafinil if people are familiar with that because
we'll dive deeper into it. But yeah, it, it is actually less

(08:05):
harsh than caffeine neuroprotection. Peptides
like Cerebral and C Max not only boost cognitive function
but provide long term neuroprotection making them
attractive to individuals looking to prevent cognitive decline
and support recovery from brain injuries. And I have
used those with clients specifically with traumatic BR

(08:27):
injuries. Scientific support. So the research
into these Compounds shows promising results in treating neurod
degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
enhancing the reputation as beneficial for healthy
individuals facing cognitive challenges as well.
I guess the last thing I didn't mention is like improving productivity.

(08:50):
So you know professionals ah
Castor and Duffin we use these students and
creatives using need to sustain high levels of productivity and focus.
These compounds offer a way to optimize mental performance especially
during, you know, periods of cognitive demand. Anything else
that you want to add there Anthony? No, I think that's really good

(09:12):
overview the figure
maybe I'll. If you want I'd be happy to unpack cerebral a
little bit the one we're starting with
and reason this one's kind of the one that we're starting
with. It's really, you know, if you had to pick just one and
a minute ago I said, you know, there's not one but this one's really going

(09:34):
to cover a lot of bases. And
when you think about cerebral be small
change in amino acid just like any peptide
and there's free form amino acids and it's derived from
pig's brain. So right there probably doesn't sound too
appetizing. It doesn't smell very appetizing either if you have any

(09:56):
experience with it. Kind
of an interesting thing with regards to biology is
we're pretty similar to pigs and my fiance would
say I'm extremely similar to a pig if you've ever seen me at a dinner
table. But when you think about like armor
thyroid that people take for their thyroid, one of the reasons is it's

(10:19):
close enough to be recognized as thyroid in our body. But
it's different enough that if you're producing antibodies to thyroid, it's
not going to attack it. So cerebralysin coming from a pig's
brain kind of makes sense when we think about it in that context.
And the collection of proteins
that you get with cerebralysin they

(10:41):
basically mimic the natural proteins that's going to be in our brain
and especially those that play a role in like protecting and repairing the
neurons and brain cells. So if you think of it like this,
if you want to imagine your brain is like a complex city with roads,
buildings, communication networks and then over
time, just like in our

(11:04):
city, these things are going to get damaged. There's going to be potholes in the
roads and wires with short circuiting and
buildings falling apart and cerebral license just like a team of
construction workers and engineers and electricians that
are going to come in and repair that city and Instead of fixing just the
physical damage, it helps your brain repair and even protect

(11:26):
the neurons and synapses. Because we don't want to just
repair to where we were. We want to prepare ourselves that, you
know, as cars get heavier and weather gets worse, city
is going to stand up. So that's like when
we kind of think about the general overview and when we think
about kind of the two ways that it's working, like the

(11:48):
neuro neuroprotection aspect, what's going to happen is
the neurons, which are the cells in your brain,
they're like these fragile machines that can get damaged due to factors like
aging or lack of oxygen
or disease. Any of those things are going to
essentially provide an insult to those neurons. And

(12:11):
where cerebral lysine is extremely valuable is it's going
to help by protecting these cells from dying prematurely.
So it's almost like playing Mario Brothers
and getting a charge up or giving a car an oil change and a
tune up. It makes those neurons less likely to break down under
stress. And by doing that, essentially

(12:33):
these good neurons that we've been building up and that are learning patterns and really
helping us our whole life, it's like they get a second wind.
And then when we think about the neurotropic support that
cerebralysin provides, acts kind of like a
growth booster. And there are certain proteins in
cerebralysin that are really similar to what we would call

(12:54):
neurotrophic factors. And these are basically just proteins
that help brain cells grow, repair themselves and
create new connections and synapses. And it's just
like going back to that city analogy, it's just like adding a new
infrastructure to our brain city and helping those neurons
connect more efficiently. And that's going to

(13:16):
potentially improve cognitive functions like memory and learning.
And all these things we really want to kind of build up.
And for a little bit more technical look, what's happening
actually is there's NGF and that
stands for nerve growth factor mimicry. And that's
one of the key parts of how cerebralysin works. It

(13:38):
basically mimics these naturally occurring molecules like
ngf, the nerve growth factor and the bdnf, which is
the brain derived neurotrophic factor. And these
molecules, easy way to think about them, it's just like
fertilizer for your neurons. So it's going to help them grow and
survive. And it's like providing water and sunlight to a

(14:00):
plant. Without these, the plant or
neuron would end up just kind of dying.
And also helps with
prevention of apoptosis. Apoptosis being
cell death, as we've talked about in a couple episodes now,
when the neurons are under threat from like toxins, stress,

(14:23):
disease, those kind of things, it triggers apoptosis
or programmed cell death. And it's kind of like
ejector seat in a car if you're about to hit a wall. And
cerebralysin appears to inhibit this process
and works. It's a lot like if you were thinking about
like installing a backup power generator in the city to prevent

(14:45):
blackouts if there was going to be like
electric failure or something. And then the other thing it
does in terms of like its mechanism of action is it reduces
neuroinflammation. So that's why it's so valuable. After something like a
TBI in certain, like
conditions, Alzheimer's, stroke, parts of the brain

(15:07):
become inflamed because of that ischemic event
that's going to cause more damage. Cerebralysin is able to reduce the
inflammation and it's just kind of like putting out fires in
parts of a city before they spread. It's used quite
frequently after in recovery from ischemic strokes
where the brain has been deprived of blood

(15:30):
and oxygen. So that's a pretty common use of that.
Yeah, absolutely tremendous
for any type of
stroke. They use it in
Alzheimer's and it looks like
as Alzheimer's things go, reasonably good

(15:53):
results and really good
for recovering from a stroke.
And then it's also like I've used
it if I'm doing what I would call a neural
hypertrophy phase of training or something where I'm moving really heavy
weights. And one of the things that contribute to that is going to be like

(16:14):
rate coding and neural intervention to the
tissue. I'll do site specific injections
intramuscularly with the cerebralysin because
of the synaptogenesis and
improves nervous supply to the muscle
tissue. Really interesting. I've been wondering about

(16:35):
that. So I would agree that cerebral lysine would
be top of my list as well. When we're speaking of traumatic brain
injuries. My nephew had a
unfortunate car accident, thrown 100ft from his
vehicle, airlifted to the hospital. They weren't sure he was going to survive.
And you know, over the coast in course of the next several months

(16:57):
had five brain surgeries and the first day that he
felt his feet was the day that was the
day that he was administered cerebralysin.
And I've had some great experiences for
myself post, you know, my heavy steroid use
days when I use some, you know,

(17:19):
toxic ones such as Tren, which is
Heavily is a neurodegenerative. So that was
really my choice in why I started getting into cerebralysin was
to recover from both the significant amount
of stress induced on my body as well as the neurodegenerative
compounds. And man, I just. You have such a

(17:42):
nice calming effect following administration,
you know, in the periods following that. It's really great. And I've
noticed also a carryover into mood as
it relates to anxiety, kind of depression,
those things. And I know I'm not the only one that has reported.

(18:02):
Reported that. So yeah, it's,
it's a really amazing compound. And that's one of the things that I was
wondering about to get back to where I, where I butted in here
was the impact. I'm like, man, I wish I during some of my
really heavy periods of training had the opportunity to
play with the cerebral and with the impact on nervous

(18:24):
system and CNS fatigue. And
I just, my theory is like, I think that it could
have a pretty substantial impact on high
neural demand like strength training. Not, not muscle mass. Right.
Not bodybuilding prep. But like you know those significant. And
that's been something I'd be interested in feedback on.

(18:47):
Yeah, it's, I've used it like if you
bro speak here, if you got a muscle and you can't feel it
and make that kind of mind muscle connection, a lot of times that's going to
come down to the way the nerves are transmitting
signals. So in kind of a lagging muscle group
like that, a lot of value. And then

(19:09):
definitely for those heavier phases of training just
in terms of the repair, you know, another really good,
I think underrated application for it is if you got a
surgery coming up where they're going to be using anesthesia, remember when they use
that anesthesia, basically you're not getting oxygen to the brain and people
forget about that. But five days prior to surgery,

(19:32):
all the way through I go 14 days after.
So 19 days total. I would say
do the cerebralysin and I'm
pretty aggressive with the dosage so I'd use 10ml and
just to protect against the anesthesia and the
negative effects that come with it, I did that. So I did that with

(19:54):
my last surgery and man, it was amazing
the, the, the how much better I came out of that
at that surgery period and being under like that plate.
I've been through a few surgeries and that and I know how fast I can
recover using peptides. I had zero concern about that, that
I'm going to be back in no Time I'm like what can I do to

(20:17):
minim. And so I use a
few of the different compounds that we're going to talk about today, but
primary one being cerebralysin. So when we're talking about
it being kind of number one on the list, it is
the oldest of all of these wild,
widely researched. So it was developed in

(20:39):
1948, patented in 1954. So
those patents are way out. So that's why there's not. Most people don't hear
about it but if you expose a physician to it and they do the research,
they'll be usually pretty, pretty impressed. And
you know, that was with my nephew and they're like yeah, that sounds like a
great idea, let's do this. I'm surprised I've never heard of this before.

(21:01):
So it's, it's rather interesting but that's because it's been around for a long time
and there's no money in it and it has been, the research has been
done. So the safety profile is really high. I mean they've done
research in young children that's
you know, when we think about some of these, some of these issues that's where
they're applying that in like I said, you know, some

(21:23):
stroke, TBI type things with, with kids. So it's,
it's, the safety profile is pretty, pretty substantial.
One of the things that I recommend, and I don't know if you agree with
this Anthony, but is usually, you know, you talked about site
specific for the, you know, the neural
activity as it relates to, you know, movement

(21:45):
muscle. When it comes to the
neurotrophic effects, usually I try to administer this
into my traps. I'm trying to go as close to my brain as I
can. Yeah, yeah,
the, that, that makes sense. It's I think kind of
getting back to the whole discussion of pharma kinetics.

(22:07):
Sort of the closer to the area you can get it, the better off you're
going to be. The one cool thing too about the
cerebralysin is with regards to the blood brain
barrier because these
chains of proteins, the peptides in there are so
small. It's just a collection of a lot of small peptides.

(22:28):
It'll cross that blood brain barrier. So
exactly as Chris said, if you get it even a little bit
closer to the brain, if the brain's your target
and then it's got that ability to cross that blood brain
barrier, it's really going to be pretty effective. And that's
where some of these things, you know, that look good on paper, fall

(22:49):
short that we've got that blood brain barrier and if things can't get through
there, not really going to do what they're supposed to do in
the brain. Yeah. And that's one of the ones there's. Sometimes you take, you know,
take compounds or supplements. You're like, is it really doing something? And
I feel with cerebralysin you definitely know now sometimes you
experience, I call it kind of a brain fog or fatigue the

(23:12):
day following and you just think about it just like after a heavy workout, you
know, it feels like the same way with your muscles. It's like, man, my brain
is like it's recovering, it's growing right now and you
can fight. So I rarely ever administer
like the night before. I've got like intense meetings or things like
that. I would actually space it out like on a Saturday night or

(23:34):
something of that nature where I've got time to kind of chill the next
day. But that's been with a lot of my 5 and ML
doses recently. I've been doing 20 and actually wake
up feeling amazing, which I was surprised. I thought I'd be
more kind of lethargic, but I actually
feel much ready

(23:56):
to. More ready to hit the road than before, which is not the feeling
that I get the day following Cerebral icin. Normally
now, yeah, I think that
you got a couple different methods of administration. You
can do like the intramuscular or you can do like an
iv. And IV I think is going to

(24:19):
be first choice if that's available
in terms of just how fast it's going to get in your system, be metabolized
and everything. But intramuscular, you know, if you're using it for
training purposes, in my opinion that might actually be the better way to
go and you can even do a sub Q with it. So there's some different
options there. Any of those are going to be effective. But to

(24:41):
build on what Chris said about the brain fog, doing an IV generally
that's going to metabolize a little bit faster than those other two
options. So that's kind of something to think about too. Yep.
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That's code resilience for 10% off. So
I know Limitless Nootropics has it. I'm not sure if Amino
does. I've always gotten cerebralysin
from. Because it wasn't available in some of these other sites before
Cosnic Nootropic. So if anybody ever wants to get any, you can get a discount.

(25:48):
If you use the code Endless, like Endless
Evolution, you can get a discount code there. But if it's on
Amino or Limitless, you can use. Use our codes that you can find
on usually my link tree or on our community forum for anybody that's
interested. We've spent quite a bit of time on Cerebral License. Should we just jump
into the next one? Sure. All right.

(26:11):
Yeah. Just to build on what you said about
the sourcing. I've always gone through Cosmic
Nootropic. I know Limitless
is pretty good. I don't know if Amino has it yet. One thing
I'll say is Cerebral License, one of the most counterfeited things out there.
So you do want to really make sure you're getting it from

(26:33):
a good source. And I
know Cosmic imports. Cosmic's importing from
the manufacturers and that because it's produced
not in the. Not in the States or China, it's over where
it's. Yeah. One of the Eastern
European countries. I'm not sure. Yeah. Cosmic or Cosmic

(26:56):
does imports of a lot of that stuff that's available in those
areas. Yeah, which is why I use that as
well. So that's recommended source for coming, I think, from
both of us. So, yeah, definitely.
You're doing a great job of covering the. I love your
analogies and the way you do that. Do you want to jump into Cortex and.

(27:19):
Sure. Thank you. The. So Cortexin,
it's going to be pretty similar in terms of when
we think about cortexin versus cerebralysin.
When we kind of think about, you know,
what's cortexin doing that Cerebralisin isn't

(27:40):
doing? We can explore everything
from like the. Some of the cellular pathways
to some of the. Its unique aspects. Where it
really seems to shine, in my opinion, is
it's great for combating oxidative
stress and excited toxicity.

(28:01):
And when we think about oxidative stress, to use
an analogy, just think about it. Like, wrecking
balls would be a good analogy, I guess. And these free radicals are like these
tiny wrecking balls. Inside your cells and
they're reactive because they have unpaired electrons, which
means they'll interact with almost anything to stabilize

(28:24):
themselves. So if you think about these little electrons being like little magnets that
can connect, anytime there's something they can attach to,
boom, you know they want to do that. And when these free radicals attack
the components of the cell, like cell membrane, because they're bouncing around like
ping pong balls or mitochondria that we talked about last week,
which is important for generating energy for the cell, they're going to cause that

(28:47):
damage that accumulates over time. And in
neurons that oxidative stress leads
to membrane damage. So it's going to break down like the
membranes of the neurons and that leads to cell death.
Mitochondrial dysfunction we talked about. And then also even
damages like the DNA. So for cortex and

(29:09):
when we think about like, how does this help it works in the
brain partially, like as an antioxidant, as
Chris explained last, last week when we
touched briefly on modafinil, how it's got
antioxidant properties in the brain and this neutralizes those free
radicals before they can be that wrecking ball

(29:31):
bouncing around, you know, knocking out the cell
walls and mitochondria and all that stuff. And
by reducing this oxidative stress and protecting the neurons,
it's going to be beneficial
for things like stroke or tbi,
because these are all essentially conditions

(29:55):
of oxidative stress.
And then like to explain, unpack the excitotoxicity,
this is like where you have overstimulation of neurotransmitters, especially
glutamate. And basically what
happens is this leads to an excessive firing of neurons. And

(30:15):
it's like machine gun, you're firing it so much that it overheats
and well, this is an exaggeration but like melts or in this case it would
be cell death. And glutamate, it's not all
bad. It's your excitatory neurotransmitter. So
it makes the neurons want to be more likely to
fire. And under normal conditions, it's even essential for

(30:38):
things like learning and memory. So that's a really good thing.
But if you get too much, the neurons become over
excited and then you get this big influx of calcium into the
neurons. And this excess calcium inside the neurons
is toxic because it activates enzymes that are going to break down
cell structures. And that's where we get that term, the

(30:59):
excitotoxicity. Excited bouncing around
and toxicity, breaking it down. So when we
think about like cortex and role in that
it modulates. It
modulates by mitigating the release of that glutamate.
And it's kind of like having your hand on a volume

(31:22):
dial. So it's, you know, if you need a little bit more glutamate, it's going
to let it out. Or if it's like starting to ramp up too much,
you can kind of turn that volume down. And
by doing that, that helps to balance gaba, which is
going to be an inhibitory neurotransmitter with that glutamate, which is going to
be the exciting,

(31:44):
firing on all cylinders neurotransmitter.
And to give you some specific context, so this might
tie it together even a little bit better. When we think about
something like epilepsy, basically what's happening is
there's too much neuronal excitation.
So when you take something like a cortexin in the case of

(32:06):
epilepsy, it's going to boost GABA's inhibitory
effects. So it kind of amplifies those and
can have a role in preventing seizures. Or
when we think about cognitive decline,
that might be too little excitation coming from the glutamate.
So it's almost like telling your brain, hey, it's time to memorize

(32:29):
something. And it's like, hey, it's Sunday, I'm sleeping in. And
cortexin is going to help optimize that glutamate function
so that you do get a little bit more excitation and
help on that front. And
when we think about like the, on a molecular level,
what's cortexing doing, the pathways it's going to interact

(32:52):
with, it's M A P K E
R K pathway for those of you like me that like to nerd out
on this stuff. And basically that pathway, I won't
quiz anybody on these letters. It's just a real important
one for cell survival and differentiation and
synaptic plasticity. And it's one of the

(33:14):
pathways also that kind of helps protect neurons
from apoptosis and promotes growth and
repair. And then we've also got like the
pi3k akt
pathway and that one's going to be more of
a pathway that's going to promote survival, growth.

(33:36):
It's involved in like anti apoptotic, apoptotic like
the cell death mechanism and also plays a
crucial role in like the brain plasticity.
So kind of wrap it up and everything. When we think about
it and why we would use a cortex in,
it's really going to be fantastic for any Type of

(33:58):
oxidative stress, excited
toxicity, but works through. If
that glutamate's too high, it turns the GABA up basically
higher. So it kind of balances out the
neurotransmitters and it won't quiz anybody on
the pathways because I'm probably the only nerd that really likes to memorize

(34:20):
those. So, yeah, you know, based on those applications, it'd be
somebody that's not getting enough sleep, not getting
enough, you know, greens and fruits and, you know,
antioxidants and probably under a high level of stress with a high level
of like, input stimulus into their life.
Right? Yeah, absolutely. And

(34:42):
I think that's a great point too about, you know, sometimes
when we think about all these things that can reduce oxidative stress.
Chris made great point. You know, get your green vegetables
in. Yeah. Number number one, right. Like,
you don't need Modafinil if you're getting adequate sleep. If you don't
need, like, there's a lot of approaches that's

(35:04):
we don't want to replace and go, well, we can have bad
habits because we're using X. That way
I can get away with sleeping less. That is the wrong approach.
Right. We want to think about this as an optimization
strategy. So I'm going to skip adding any
more input because we are, we are starting to run. Going to run pretty long

(35:25):
here. But FGL loop peptide, you want to roll
into that one and then maybe I can do a little on CMAX and
celnac. Sounds great. So the FGL loop
peptide, it's basically just a synthetic peptide and it's
derived from a naturally occurring protein in the brain. It's called
ncam, almost like

(35:47):
ncaa, but ncam. So that's
just neural cell adhesion molecule. And it's
gained a lot of attention due to its potential
neuroprotective benefits, neurotrophic
benefits, and nootropic properties. So you remember earlier,
Chris differentiated between like, nootropic and

(36:09):
neurotrophic. It's
particularly beneficial in terms of enhancing
memory. It also protects neurons
and it can. They're looking at it
for treating things like Alzheimer's, stroke, traumatic brain injury.
It's derived from a specific portion of that NCAM

(36:32):
molecule and it's an important
protein involved in neuron to neuron interaction. So when these
little neurons are talking to themselves, these little,
essentially driving all the processes in our body, what's happening
is it's creating this synaptic plasticity and brain development.
And specifically the FGL peptide

(36:56):
is going to come from the part of that NCAM, it's
called fibronectin type 3 homologous
loop. So that's why it got that
FGL loop peptide name from.
And when we think about how it works in the brain,
its main target is there's what's called a

(37:19):
FGF,
FGFFR1, which is
fibroblast growth factor receptor 1. And
it's a receptor that's involved in all these different cellular processes
including like cell growth, differentiation, survival,
and it's a key player in the brain for development and

(37:40):
neuronal survival. So what it does is it comes over
and it binds to this FGF
FR1 and it's on the surface
of the neurons and that triggers this whole cascade of intracellular
events. And this binding activates signaling
pathways that promote neuronal survival, growth, repair.

(38:02):
And then for the neutrophic effects, it
activates this FGFF FR1. It
mimics the nootropic factors like
as we said, the cerebral lysin does the NGF and the bdnf
and those are critical for maintaining healthy neurons
and promoting growth of new synaptic

(38:24):
connections. And it also induces synaptic
plasticity, it enhances the
ltp, the long term potentiation in the
hippocampus. And the hippocampus I
don't know if anybody here is familiar with in the
70s, there was that guy that had the surgery done and lost a

(38:47):
significant portion of his memory. Like he'd eat breakfast and he wouldn't remember
that, but he was still able to
function some way because of essentially his
hippocampus was in, in place. They took out, I think it was part of the
prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus is like
almost like your reflex or like your long term memory things that become a habit.

(39:09):
So when he wandered out of the house and everybody was like, oh man,
where's, where is he? This is bad. He actually found his way back
home and when they asked where he was, he didn't remember. But then when they
asked, you know, where'd you go? He'd be like, well, I just walked up to
the blue house and I turned left and I walked to the red house and
that way. So that's, and that's hippocampus to give it a little

(39:30):
context. And then for the neuroprotection
that's coming through, the anti apoptotic
effect. So again those
pathways that I won't quiz anybody on, those basically just
reduce the apoptosis, the programmed
cell death. And it also reduces

(39:54):
neuroinflammation and
that's pretty much it in a nutshell. In terms of
like how's it delivered? It's available as a
nasal spray and when we think again about
pharmakinetics and where the brain's at and where the nose is at
really makes sense why this is a great go to especially

(40:16):
if you need to do something to boost memory and
recall. Yep. All right, well I'll dive into
CMAX and CELNAC and and
Anthony will probably jump in with more of the science explanation
as it I'll lean on him for that. Both these are
also nasal or

(40:37):
injectable. I've used them as both ways.
I think the only difference really is
it's a little bit cheaper on the injectable and
nasal is definitely a little nasal spray.
Well actually this one's new PEPT from Amino.
We'll talk about that in a little bit. But is usually more

(41:01):
acceptable to most people. So starting with C Max.
It is an adrenochrototropic hormone.
Not too particular about that except we'll talk into it a little bit.
But it is one that it is a very
powerful nootrophic peptide

(41:21):
working through brain derived neurotrophic factor as well. So it's very
powerful in that realm. It makes it really
versatile for both cognitive and enhancement
neuroprotection but also has some really interesting properties as it
relates to things like ADHD and
stress. So obviously you know the BDNF we've talked

(41:42):
about that's going to help with the neurosurvivor synaptic plasticity. So we're
going to start seeing, you know, all the effects around focus,
memory, some of the stress resistance, stroke
and recovery impacting cognitive decline. Because we're
going to have things of the neuroprotection. But
what's unique about this is the regulation of neurotransmitters. So

(42:06):
C Max modulates the levels of several key neurotransmitters including
dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine.
So those are critical for focus on mood regulation
and cognitive processing. And by increasing dopamine levels,
C Max helps enhance motivation, focus and mental
clarity. So we've got some different pathways there and then

(42:28):
I miss the adrenocortropin.
But C Max has been shown to regulate the
brain's stress response by affecting the production of
the corticotropin releasing hormone, that's
crh, which is involved in the
body's response to stress. It helps reduce the negative impact

(42:51):
of stress on cognitive performance, making it easier to maintain
focus and clarity in high pressure situations.
So I think that that's pretty important.
You know, it's involved in around stimulating the adrenal
glands and cortisol and other stress related hormones. And if
we're, you know, muting those effects, we're going to

(43:13):
have less of, you know, the negative effects
from the overstimulation from stress, improving a
brain function. And as a whole you're going to see a reduction in some of
the oxidative stress and things that we've talked about those others having
an impact on. So several different pathways
to boost focus and concentration, improving memory

(43:36):
and learning and that's both short term and long term
memory because it's having an effect on those short term
pathways again through the neurotransmitters like a nootropic
would. But because of the synaptic plasticity,
we're having an impact on the neurotrophic or the growth
of those neurons and pathways.

(43:59):
Combine that with anti stress effects, you can start
seeing something that's really powerful. Lots of
potential for traumatic brain injuries, neurodegenerative
things like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
It has been increasingly explored for attention
deficit disorder. So its ability to increase dopamine levels

(44:21):
improves focus, making it a potential alternative to
traditional stimulant medications like Adderall or
Ritalin, which you know, definitely have some side effects with
them. So offering something that is also a cognitive,
you know, enhancement at the same time and reducing those effects
of the overstimulation that I talked about earlier, that's going to be a big

(44:43):
impact on the ADHD with not having that, that
overstimulation and stress response effect. So we can
see, you know, why it's being looked at for adhd.
Yeah, you're going to see a lot of the other same things, except
one of the notes around the neurotransmitters is also going to play
a role in mood. So it's going to have an impact on

(45:06):
mood disorders, particularly anxiety, stress
related. Anything that you'd like to add on.
C Max, I think that's terrific. The
one thing that's kind of cool about it is it's got a vasodilatory
effect. So if somebody's got like sleep apnea
where you're not getting oxygen to the brain, there can be a lot of value

(45:28):
there. The,
with the BDNF too. It's really interesting. You know, we've had these
antidepressants around forever, but how many people do you know that have been
cured from taking them. And in fact when they
study these people that have
depression, it seems like 100% of them have low levels

(45:49):
of BDNF. So what research is starting to
gravitate towards is that perhaps
just kind of getting up that level of BDNF is something
that makes us more capable of dealing with
stress and our response to stress.
And maybe that's kind of the future

(46:10):
of what we do for treating depression.
The other really cool thing or benefit with the C
Max is its effect
for on inflammatory cytokines specifically in
the brain. So in terms of our immune modulation,
Cemex is something that's going to help modulate the brain's immune

(46:34):
response. And that's kind of where some of that
neuro reducing the neuro inflammation comes from.
Yeah. And that. Well, it's a great segue into celnac which
is really a dual action. You know, it's an anxiolytic
and nootropic peptide. Has a really big impact on calm
focus and cognitive clarity. But it's

(46:56):
specifically derived from an immune molecule, Tuftsin.
So it plays a big role in immune regulation. And that's a lot of
the mechanisms of action are through
that. It affects also
the immune function but also directly rates the nervous system and regulate
neurotransmitter levels. So it primarily operates through

(47:18):
GABA and serotonin levels. Now it does have influence
dopamine but the, you know, the primary is the GABA and serotonin
inhibiting. And GABA is
a inhibitory neurotransmitter that calms the brain
and reduces anxiety. So while it's associated with mood
regulation by modulating these neurotransmitters cell

(47:40):
neck helps promote relaxation but it doesn't cause
drowsiness again so it's not working in that
fashion. It does
influence dopamine and norepinephrine levels which are critical for
the motivation. As we talked about alertness focus by
maintaining a balance of the calming between the GABA as

(48:01):
well. And then activating dopamine helps produce
calm focus particularly in stressful situations.
And then you know, being a an
off of an immune modulating compound it's obviously going
to have support immune functions by promoting

(48:22):
immune balance and reducing inflammation in the brain. So this
modulation may contribute to its neuroprotective properties helping
maintain healthy brain function under stress.
So yeah, those are the primary
focuses of why someone would want to use this. Reducing anxiety without set
it sedation then still having some of the same effects

(48:44):
on the nootropic effects on memory and learning and
mental clarity and then the reduced
stress cognitive decline. So really great compound.
Typically it would be if one's wanting more of the stress
relief and anxiety functions, I think that the lean would be towards
the cell nac over the C max. Would you agree with that, Anthony?

(49:07):
Yeah, I think it's great for modulating
that GABA and then the other kind of unique thing about it, and this ties
into that stress response is it increases the
activity of the enkephalons and those are
trying to think of how to explain these. So it reduces

(49:28):
the perception of strength and anxiety.
And when we think about in keplins, those are like traditional
opioid drugs or whatever. But these are the ones that your body kind of naturally
makes so it. And that's why one of the reasons
why you can use it during the day because it's not going
to cause like sedation or

(49:49):
addiction. It's a much safer alternative
for stress and anxiety.
Yeah, yeah. Do you want to dive into
synapsin RG3, that
ginseng derivative? Sure, yeah.
So the synapsin is a compound derived

(50:11):
from ginsenoside which comes from ginseng
and it's Ginsenoside RG3, there's RG1,
RG2, RG3. The three is the one that's really kind of
studied, although there's some more stuff coming about. The
RG2 I've been reading with regards to insulin sensitivity.
But the ginsenosides, what they are is they're active

(50:33):
compounds in ginseng and they're responsible for a lot of the
medicinal benefits that you're gonna see. And the RG3
is one of the more bioactive and well studied ginsenosides.
It's been linked to this huge range of benefits
and that includes things like neuroprotection,
cognitive enhancement, anti aging.

(50:55):
And when we think about like what it is, it's a traditional
medicinal plant, it's been used in Asia for centuries.
And there's different types of these ginsenosides. There's actually 30
of them that have been identified and I'm sure they'll find more. And
they've studied them for things like neuroprotection,
reducing inflammation, anti cancer, anti

(51:17):
fatigue. And the RG3 in particular,
it's a
damarine type tri pene
sapoin and it's jumbled up way of
saying it naturally occurs. It's
a naturally occurring molecule with a sugar chain that's going to be

(51:39):
attached to it and it's a multi
Ring complex. When we think about the
RG3, what's particularly interesting about it is it can
modulate various cellular pathways important for brain health, immune
health and anti aging. And
in terms of like the neurotransmitter modulation, it works

(52:00):
on that cholinergic system that we referenced in
our podcast about nicotine. And it increases
acetylcholine. And that's going to be things like your short term memory and learning
as well as the first thing that's released from the
prefrontal cortex into the neuromuscular junction to initiate like a
muscle contraction. And acetylcholine is

(52:24):
also the primary transmitter or neurotransmitter of the
parasympathetic nervous system. So you know, when we talk about like a
balance between your sympathetic nervous system, like fight and flight,
parasympathetic rest and digest. And we see that getting
really dysregulated. One of the things that happens is those
acetylcholine levels just drop and drop and drop.

(52:46):
And that's also like, you know, when people talk about over training
or like they see their strength going down now it starts to make sense
because think about it like we've got low acetylcholine and our
body's trying to use it for all these different processes including
muscle contraction. So we see that
drop in performance. Just kind of an interesting side

(53:09):
note there I guess. It also works in the
dopaminergic system. So it modulates dopamine levels.
Remember when we say modulate that means it doesn't increase them.
So you don't have to worry about like a receptor burning out or something like
that. It modulates them. So if you need a little bit more turns the
dial up or if you got enough, it can turn that dial down.

(53:30):
And it also works in the serotonergic system
where it influences serotonin levels. And that's going to help
regulate things like mood anxiety, emotional wellbeing.
And it works in that glutame. This is the one that always
trips me up. Glutamatergic system. And
that's a glutamate system. And remember we talked a little bit earlier

(53:53):
about when that glutamate gets too high, it
causes the excited toxicity. But we need to have glutamate
so that we can learn and have memories and things like
that. It does increase production of
BDNF like a lot of these do. And it's
got anti inflammatory properties

(54:16):
in the brain. It specifically reduces things like
tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 6
and it also suppresses the NFKB pathway,
which is a potential target for things like
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, even depression.

(54:36):
It's also got antioxidant effects and
it's. Yeah, pretty, pretty all around amazing
compound. I generally like to. It comes in,
you can get like the liposomal tabs where you chew them up.
I absolutely love those. Metabolic Nutrition is a.
Or Metabolic Elite is a company that I order those from

(55:00):
and with a liposomal delivery, you're going to get almost
the same, potentially even better delivery than like if you do the
nasal spray. It comes as a nasal spray and
they can even compound it with things that would support it. Like
I've had it compounded with alpha GPC and had
it compounded with things like low dose leucine and all sorts of

(55:22):
cool combos you can get into. But yeah, I think that
whether your goals are training or whether you want to do
something to support recovery of the nervous system
or whether you're trying to improve your learning, this is a real
easy addition. And if you go with something like those lipo tabs that I
use, you know, you can carry those with you and it's not

(55:44):
awkward. Like you don't have to worry about like getting
too hot or anything like that. So great
compound. Should I. I haven't tried that. Anthony, should
I give that a try? Oh, 100% say so. Yeah.
The Napsin LPT is the one that I use from
Metabolic Elite and

(56:06):
it's been fantastic for me. The.
I think probably the. Well, my timing of it. I do it first thing in
the morning when I wake up and then right after a workout because a
nervous system kind of took that hit and I've even taken it
close to bed. No disruption in sleep or anything, but I generally do
morning and then kind of early afternoon and think it's tremendous.

(56:28):
All right, well, I'll jump into
new pept. I've got the Amino Asylum nasal spray
version. By the way, you can use code DUFFIN20 for
20 off immuno asylum or somebody else's
whatever. So New PEPT is the
most powerful in the race TAM family

(56:50):
and it works by stimulating both the BDNF
and nerve growth factor. So I don't think I'm going to beat
up like all the impacts that it would have. But that's, you know,
mechanisms of action, you know,
regulating the production of those two. It's going to have a big impact
on synaptic plasticity, neural

(57:11):
connections. It also modulates glutamate activity,
it does neuroprotection and it's
antioxidant and an anti inflammatory properties.
So like I said, this is a very powerful
and potent synthetic nootropic.
And so with the glutamate activity it

(57:34):
plays a key role in memory formation and learning. So glutamate
is the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter and by
enhancing that activity it helps promote improve
cognitive processing and speed and efficiency with the
neuroprotective effects. It helps shield the brain from the oxidative
stress as we've talked about. And then the

(57:56):
antioxidants freeing those clear radicals is going to help with
neurodegeneration and anti inflammatory properties.
So output of that all the usual improving
learning focus, mental clarity,
the neuroprotection effects. And then it does have an impact
on reducing anxiety and improving mood as well. It's a

(58:18):
subtle anxiolytic
thanks to the modulation of dopamine and serotonin levels. Not as
powerful as what we talked about before, but those
neurotransmitters are there because of this new Pept
is a really great product to stack with a lot of other
products. So you can pair it with choline sources like Alpha

(58:40):
GPC to support
acetylcholine levels for enhancing memory.
You could also put it with other racetams like
Piracetime for synergistic effects on learning
and memory
that similar effects on cognitive decline, performance

(59:01):
enhancement, post brain injury and recovery.
So again new PEPT is a potent and
versatile nootropic that offers a range of benefits.
I think that's what makes it really cool from memory enhancement,
learning and focus and neuroprotection. Its ability to stimulate
BDNF and NGF along with the glutamate modulation

(59:23):
and neuroprotective properties make it a powerful
tool for both cognitive enhancement and long
term brain health. That's why I've got it here because again it's not just a
nootropic, it is a neurotrophic as well. Whether used
in a nerve. But it you can use it really well
with neurotropic stacks or as a standalone

(59:44):
supplement. So it works either way. Nupep remains one of the most
popular choices among individuals seeking to optimize
cognitive function and protecting against cognitive decline
recovering from vein injuries. Just it's simply it's
effective combined with its relatively
low dose that make it an essential part. So

(01:00:06):
dosing is typically going to be between 10 to 30
milligrams per day, but usually on the lower
end of that 10 is usually pretty adequate. And that can be dosed from one
to three times a day. Little bottle
here is 500 milligrams. So you know, at 10 per day it's going to
last 10, three times a day. Up to three times a day, it's going

(01:00:27):
to last for a little time. I did run through that pretty
quickly, Anthony, so if you want to flush that out in any manner.
Yeah, I think that's a really good, good overview. I just want to make
sure people, because I went through it fast but it's a lot of the same
information. People don't underestimate the value of this one over ones that
we may have spent more time on. Yeah. With

(01:00:49):
racetomes in general. Well, those are
going to be things. As Chris pointed out, you know,
neuromodulation is going to be the primary mechanism of action
and biggest effects you're going to see in terms of
neuromodulators are going to be on acetylcholine and
glutamate. So kind of reflecting on what

(01:01:11):
we previously talked about where you know,
after those acetylcholine levels start going down, we see
dips in short term memory. Feel like we're over training. When we have something
that modulates acetylcholine it can kind of bring it back up to where it needs
to be without disrupting the balance of other things. Yeah.
And there is definitely going to be a lot of synergy

(01:01:33):
if you can combine a new PEPT with. And that's what I do. I take
a new PEPT with a alpha GPC or the
cytocholine or even like a choline by
tartrate and that one's going to be
a little bit less bioavailable. It also pairs well
with, you can do it like theanine in there to kind

(01:01:55):
of help, help on that aspect. And
then of course you know, things like acetyl L carnitine and that was.
One of the things I did with this is I took the, the
stimulant version of the, of the vaso blitz that I always pimp
on everyone. No need to pimp that on this one. But the,
this is the, the cognitive piece of it. So we've

(01:02:18):
got, so I take the vaso blitz formula and then on training
days we've got, you know, L citrulline,
beta alanine, you know, the usual in there.
But it got DMAE and then Rhodelia
Rosea for some of the, those stress
properties being an adaptogen. But then also

(01:02:42):
pretty significant dose of L, theanine along with
caffeine as well. But really like the L theanine's effect
with a lot of, you know, nootropic compounds
really modulates them out quite a bit. That's
such a well thought out formula that you have too. And
I'm not just saying that because I support

(01:03:03):
you obviously but the when you think about like all the
different adaptogens out there, the intelligence of you and your
company to put in the rhodiola instead of of some of the other ones because
rhodiola is one that if your energy is low
that's going to be your go to adaptogen compared to

(01:03:24):
like, I mean, you know, there's versatility with them but like an
ashwagandha that a lot of people just throw kind of wherever. To me
that's more of a nighttime one and more of a repairing
one versus like I need more energy in the morning. And yeah,
I just love it because everything in the formula just makes sense to me.
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(01:03:46):
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Yeah, no it's, it's. Anybody that uses it usually doesn't go away
because there's really call it full blitz. There's like, there's really nothing

(01:04:31):
better. It is a fairly expensive compared to you know,
a lot of people make those pre workouts, you know,
that are 20 or $30 and it's not one of those. But
that one actually stacks with a lot of products. You know, that's the same formula,
it's in basal blitz but it's going to enhance anabolism, it's going to
enhance recovery. It's actually not just you know, going to be something that amps

(01:04:54):
you up for a workout but is actually building and repairing and then tried to
do that with some of the, you know,
stimulant focus as we're moving into that and make a nice, no crash,
long lasting feel. Yeah, I think actually that's a pretty decent, I didn't plan
on plugging anything in this Podcast. But you know, right here in
the recitime family and we still have

(01:05:16):
piracetam, which was the. You know, it's the original. So I think it's
worth going through that being the original nootropic for cognitive
enhancement. So you want to dive into that one.
Sure. Did you want to cover the dihexa
still or. Oh, I missed the
dihex. Yeah. You want to hit both of those

(01:05:39):
then? Yeah, happy to the. With
the dihexa. I really like that one.
It's got some kind of unique properties to
it. One of its targets is the
hepatocyte growth factor. Oh, I missed. I missed a couple on our list.
We got Dihexa and DHH.

(01:06:01):
B I mixed both of those Hydronocyte. Yeah, that's.
Let's. Let's cover the pyrestotime since we just covered new pept and they're both in
the same family and does that make sense? And then. And then cover
Dihexa. I don't know how I miss those.
Okay. It's a. It's a Thursday. That
feels like Monday, so. It does. Understandable.

(01:06:24):
The. Yeah. With the racetims. We talked a little bit
about kind of what. What
neurotransmitters they target, that being the
glutamate and like
acetylcholine. Paracetam specifically,
it's a synthetic compound in that

(01:06:45):
vehemently and structurally, like if you were to look at
it, structurally, it's really similar actually to
gaba gamma aminobutyric acid.
And that's when we think about gaba, that's kind of the brain's
primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, but it
doesn't directly affect GABA receptors. Instead, the way that it works

(01:07:07):
is it influences the neurotransmitter system,
neuroplasticity and cerebral blood flow.
And piracetam, you can use it for cognitive
function, boosting, memory learning.
Some countries actually prescribe it for things like
dementia, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline.

(01:07:30):
On a molecular level, when we think about how it works,
it's really pretty simple. It basically increases
cerebral blood flow. And with stimulant
drugs, that's not really kind of how they work.
It doesn't directly activate or suppress brain activity.
Instead, it basically just optimizes that communication between

(01:07:52):
neurons. And it modulates like the
glutamate, the acetylcholine and the dopamine, which are three
of your. I don't know if I'd say they're all excitatory,
but more like, you know, dopamine's. Kind of your, your drive to do
things, motivation, reward, attention,
acetylcholine, learning attention. And then the

(01:08:13):
glutamate paracetam, the way that it works with the
glutamate, it increases the sensitivity
of AMPA and NMDA
receptors and those are involved in synaptic
plasticity and long term potentiation process,
which essentially that's a process where

(01:08:35):
synaptic connections between neurons are strengthened during
learning and enhancement of glutamate activity,
improving like memory formation and learning
speed. So I guess
kind of when we think about, you know, where might this have some utility,
it's really good for, with that cerebral blood flow. Like if there's

(01:08:57):
any sort of ischemic events, it's going to
accelerate
learning and it's going to help with like
prevent neurodegeneration and it
sensitizes those receptors for the glutamate to work with.
So when we think about like why somebody might have a good reaction to

(01:09:20):
this or why somebody might have a bad reaction to this, let's think about
what we learned about glutamate so far that we need it for like learning
and that kind of thing. So if we've got a really sensitive receptor,
terrific. You know, it's going to attach to that
receptor and we're going to get that learning going. But if
we've got excited toxicity where there's too much of that

(01:09:42):
glutamine going around so somebody's really hyper and then you
throw something in like this, it's actually going to sensitize those receptors even
more. Then you know those receptors are going to be
overstimulated and that would probably amplify the excited
toxicity or perhaps lead to like receptor burnout.
So that would be a situation where I'd probably be like, not the best

(01:10:03):
tool for the job.
All right. Want to move on to the next
two? Sure. Did you want to, for the next
two, go over the Dihexa and
dihydro hill or. Yep, those last two. And then I could

(01:10:24):
probably do modafinil and then we'll wrap it up. Great.
So Dihexa is really one of my favorites.
Never met a peptide I didn't like. But.
It'S definitely up there for my favorites.
And when we think about like its key action in

(01:10:44):
the brain, it works on that hepatocyte growth
factor met pathway. And
that's going to be kind of at the core of like its neurogenic
and synaptogenic effects. Neurogenic meaning growth of nerves.
Synaptogenic. Growth of synapses and what
it does is it binds to this. It's called the CMET receptor. And it

(01:11:06):
triggers this whole cascade of molecule signals, and those
lead to the cell growth and survival and repair, and
particularly in the brain. And
with the synapse formation, it activates that
CMAT receptor and it boosts the formation of
synapses between neurons. And that's really

(01:11:29):
essential for learning that these synapses, you know, where
the connections made, the more of these synapses we
have, that's kind of where that little
signal transmits through, and that's what allows us to
learn things, and that affects the rate that we
can process things at. So it's kind of

(01:11:51):
funny side story. I was at the one of the
A4M conferences, and they had this device you put on your brain,
and it measures, like, how different parts of your brain are working and everything.
And for most of this stuff is pretty
average, above average. But when they got to processing speed, the
normal range is like, I think it was up to 90.

(01:12:14):
And he measured mine and it was 324. And
I had taken Dihexa that morning,
but he was like. He's like,
I haven't seen a score like this before. He's like, you know, probably moved around
because you don't have a lot of hair on your head. And it didn't move
around. I'm not saying I'm the smartest person out there, but just to speak

(01:12:36):
to, like, how effective Dihexa is. And that kind of
solidified it for me, being able to see something that measures brain
activity and how much higher my
processing speed was, it was. I was like, yeah, probably keep taking
that. I like to learn and like to be able to process things fast.

(01:12:56):
The other things that helps with, you know, like a lot of these,
neurogenesis, neuroinflammation, and
where they've studied it, Alzheimer's, dementia.
And because of its ability to repair these synapses
so effectively, at least in the animal models, the Dihex
has really improved the synaptic density and cognitive

(01:13:20):
performance. And there's a lot of hope for
Alzheimer's. Although, side note,
this, probably a whole nother podcast, but one of the new targets
they found for Alzheimer's, and this one really seems to make sense to me,
is it's called Galectin 3. And what Galectin
3 does is it takes, like, the tau tangles and stuff. It

(01:13:42):
almost makes like this ball and it bounces around and then it gets
jammed in between the synapses. So it prevents that
conductivity that would allow us to like have memory and everything.
So I think, you know, it's important to form new
synapses because then if like, you know, this one's got this because of the
Galectin 3, you know, got this ball stuck in there

(01:14:05):
at least. It's kind of like if you have a freeway and you have to
take a detour. But what will be even better is if you didn't have to
take the detour in the first place. So that's why that galectin tree has kind
of become a target. And again, not to diverge too
much, but a really simple way to bring down those galectin 3
levels is modified citrus

(01:14:26):
pectin. And. Or you can eat apple
skins, which great source of citrus pectin. So
I guess I got kind of off subject there. My apologies. Your
audio got. Is a little bit funky right now too.
Sorry about that. There's better.
Yeah, my connection's been a little weird in here today.

(01:14:49):
Apologize for that. But yeah, the long
story short, Dihexa is
really excellent. And when you're thinking about it, just think about
it in terms of increasing processing
speed and increasing the
recovery for your brain, rebuilding those networks.

(01:15:14):
All right. Should I jump into
Modafinil? Sure. Or did we. Did you get both?
Yeah. We good? Yeah, you can do the Modafinil and I
can wrap up with dhhb or no. Yeah, let's
hit DHHB and then I'll.
Well, yeah, I'll do Modafinil, I guess. Ok. Yeah. So

(01:15:37):
Modafinil, super powerful agent for wakefulness
and cognitive enhancement. So it was
primarily brought about for disorders like
narcolepsy and sleep apnea. But the off label use
has really kind of skyrocketed as well as it relates to cognitive
performance, boosting focus and

(01:15:58):
reducing fatigue. And it does so without like these
jittery side effects like our traditional caffeine and
amphetamines. So it's become really popular for the
biohackers and students and, you know, folks like
that. I've used it for a number of years. I haven't used it for probably
about a year or so now. Now I will

(01:16:18):
say as I dive into the mechanisms of action that, that
honestly, from my understanding is a lot of how it
actually works isn't fully understood at these
periods at this point. And some of the properties are believed
to be because of the significant
antioxidant properties. And I mentioned this in the prior

(01:16:38):
podcast, that it is clearing those, which
is that's what our sleep Typically does is clear those antioxidants. And so
that's why we're getting such a boost from that we're
replacement of the sleep process. But I want to warn people,
don't take this to replace poor sleep habits and not getting sleep
okay. And number one,

(01:17:00):
but as a wakefulness promoting cognitive product, it's
primarily linked through its influence on dopamine and orexin
systems. And we haven't talked about orexin as yet, but we will
hear in a little bit bit. But it is a
dopamine reuptake inhibitor. So it works by
inhibiting the reuptake of dopamine, which leads to increased levels of

(01:17:22):
dopamine in the brain, which is crucial for motivation, reward
processing and focus. And by preventing that reabsorption, it
boosts alertness and enhances cognitive functioning, particularly
in tasks that require sustained attention and concentration. Which
again is why you see it with students and those that really need to
stay focused. Now the activation of the orexin neurons,

(01:17:44):
Modafinil also activates these
pathways in the hypothalamus. Orexin,
also known as hypocritin, is a neurotransmitter that
regulates wakefulness, arousal and
appetite. By stimulating orexin,
Modafinil helps maintain that wakefulness alertness, making it

(01:18:05):
highly effective in promoting long lasting focus without
intense bites or crashes associated with traditional
stimulants, which is what I like now. I
did have suffered with some minor narcolepsy most of
my life. I'm not taking it currently because I am so engaged
in the stuff that I do. It keeps me focused, but if I don't, I

(01:18:27):
used to fall asleep at my desk or have to pull over on the side
of the road for a quickie. I fall asleep anywhere, anytime, as soon as I
lose my excitement for stuff.
Modafinil also increases glutamate. So the brain's
primary excitatory neurotransmitter plays a critical role in
learning and memory. At the Same time reduces GABA's

(01:18:50):
activity, which is responsible for the inhibitory signal
around sleepiness. This dual action helps maintain that
wakefulness while supporting cognitive
function, making it a potent tool for improving mental performance
during extended periods of work. So
this is something I would recommend using when you need it and not

(01:19:11):
on a regular basis or you know, for several days a week and
then a few days off. Although
I do know people that use it year round and there does not seem to
be any. What's interesting is there's no really
tolerance buildup or negative when
you quit using It, So I'd used it for years, ran

(01:19:32):
out, didn't reorder and literally you don't have
a drop off like you do with a number of other things.
So largely, you know, its benefits are centered around
increasing mental clarity, focus and wakefulness.
Tremendous, you know, cognitive enhancer for people that want to maintain a high
level of productivity for long periods of time.

(01:19:57):
Reduces feet fatigue and promotes that wakefulness.
Minimal side effects compared to traditional staff
stimulants. So we could probably do a whole podcast
on itself, but it's got a wide level of
applications which you're going to see from people like the two of
us. Do you use Modafinil at all or have used it?

(01:20:20):
Anthony? I'm one of those daily
users. Okay. And what I'll do,
like I've never had to raise the dose so I think that speaks to you
not really developing the tolerance to it. I never, I used it
for six years and never raised the dose. There's no, there's
no needing to do that. And I used it every day. Yeah,

(01:20:42):
yeah. And I, as we mentioned previously in the
nicotine podcast, I'll pair the nicotine with it to kind of
recharge it and there's a lot of synergy between those
two. But yeah, yeah, I think it's,
it's terrific. It's a great compound and
I've had great results with it. I've got just enough

(01:21:05):
sleep apnea that like I don't need one of the Darth Vader masks,
but at the same time, you know, not optimal oxygen to the brain.
So I take it primarily both to promote the
wakefulness but then also to reduce that oxidative stress that would
accumulate in the brain from
the sleep apnea. Yep. So yeah,

(01:21:28):
people want to maintain high productivity levels, academic performance,
great use for shift workers and people with sleep disorders
like we've talked about. So Anthony's got one. I've
got a slightly different issue. No apnea on my,
my side and then just fatigue management and high stress
jobs. So it is. So this is not

(01:21:50):
a neurotrophic compound
like you would like many of our other peptides that we talked
about. This is a short term cognitive
boost. Although if you are someone that is
suffering with sleep, you're going to have longer term cognitive
issues. So you could think about it is mitigating

(01:22:12):
those deficits as it relates. So.
But yeah, if you're looking for the neurotrophic, you know, go with those peptides for
the long term benefits like new Pept
C Max Cerebral and Many of the others that we talked
about. Yeah, I think that wraps

(01:22:33):
up guess that brings us to the
dhhb, the dihydrogenochiol B.
Yep. And that one, it comes from magnolia
bark and really good for like anti
anxiety and calming effects. And
so to explain it, like if I were to return to my analogy of our

(01:22:55):
brain being this busy city, DHHB
would be the like a traffic controller for brain signals.
And it's constantly driving around these locations. Some
areas in the city, like anxiety or stress centers are going to
get like overcrowded and have too much traffic signals
and that cause like traffic jams in your brain. And this

(01:23:18):
leads to when you get those traffic jams, that's kind of where you get
some buildup of anxiety and stress or like just that feeling of
overwhelmed. And the DHHB is really cool
because like a traffic controller in the brain, it's going to reduce
the traffic to these areas and kind of slow down,
let the brain play kind of catch up and redirect some of those

(01:23:40):
cars and it allows everything to move smoothly
and calmly again. And the way that it does this
with that GABA receptor, it
trying to think how to explain this. So
GABA would be kind of like a speed limit sign in the brain
using our city analogy and telling the signals to slow

(01:24:03):
down and kind of prevents that overactivity. And
DHHB can boost GABA so the brain signals
don't race too fast. And
it also reinforces the speed limit signs
which is going to help like ensure you just got this nice
calm, steady flow of traffic signals and you don't get

(01:24:26):
that traffic jam that just like in real life causes stress and
anxiety. And the other thing it does
is brain has signals that are make
you alert. Like when we talked about the glutamate
and it being an excitatory neurotransmitter. And when you
have too much, we talked about what happens that's kind of like the fast lanes

(01:24:48):
of traffic and DHHB kind of
closes off those lanes. So it's almost like it kind of
blocks that glutamate from, you know, building up to those excitotoxic
levels we talked about. And
it's got some neuroprotective benefits too.
So it's almost like a coolant system in your car if

(01:25:10):
you get backed up in that traffic and things are starting to build up.
The nice thing about it too, a lot of times
people take it before they go to sleep, like hour before you go to sleep.
You could take it during the day because since it's working through
modulation and it's really just kind of
ensuring that things are, you know, not getting too jumbled

(01:25:33):
up, it's going to be, it's not going to make you sleepy
or that kind of thing, but at the net in the evening,
you know, when you want to fall asleep, it's going to have some benefit
and it modulates the
GABA receptors. Whereas something like a benzodiazepine
is going to work a little bit differently. It's going to be more of a

(01:25:55):
direct signal and that's why you get kind of that grogginess
or like next day hangover with some of the benzodiazepines
and you also get some of the negative long term effects,
whereas this one is just doing more of a modulation so
you don't have to worry about that. And
that's kind of the rundown on the

(01:26:17):
dhhb. I could go into a little
bit more about the subtype of GABA receptor
but might be excessive for the purposes of the
discussion. Yeah, I think we're an hour and a half in right now,
so yeah, let's, I think it's time to close
out. I hope that we did a great decent

(01:26:38):
job of explaining the differences between
nootropics and neurotrophics and how
those relate to the role in cognitive
enhancement as well as promoting
long term brain health by modulating those pathways involved with
memory, learning and neuroprotection. Cognitive

(01:26:59):
peptides, I hope that we went through and
you've got a basic understanding of many of those like C Max cerebral
Dihexa, that how you can boost
your mental clarity and focus on support of the brain's natural
ability to grow and repair and protect neurons.

(01:27:19):
And the difference between those and traditional nootropics like the
erysatoms and modafinil that provide immediate
cognitive enhancement by enhancing neurotransmitter activity.
The peptides as a whole take a more holistic approach and
both influencing neuroplasticity,
promoting synaptogenesis and stimulating neurotrophic

(01:27:42):
factors like BDNF and
ngf contributing to long term improvements
in cognitive function, recovery from neurological
damage. So if you've got an interest in, you know,
biohacking, cognitive enhancement, you know,
neurodegenerative treatments, I think that we
covered a pretty good spectrum of how to, how to approach

(01:28:05):
that. Yeah, I love the,
with these compounds there's, you got delivery options
ranging from intravenous to subcu to
intranasal to capsule tablet.
So there's no real barrier of entry.
And as we're going through them, I

(01:28:27):
think it probably is apparent that there's overlap with a lot of them. But they
each kind of have their area they shine in. So it's cool to
think when you're putting together a protocol to
maximize your brain function and everything, you know,
based on the specifics of the situation, there's one that's probably going
to be best. And as a different situation comes up, you

(01:28:49):
can rotate those. But yeah, they're a
big part of. I absolutely love learning and you know, if
I've won the lottery, I just go around and go to conferences all year
as long as I could bring my dog, cat and fiance with me.
And these are something that really makes it possible to take in a lot
of information, supports processing it effectively

(01:29:12):
and just terrific compounds. I
think as Chris pointed out earlier and this is probably the most
important thing for as amazing as these are like nothing takes the place
of sleep and hydration. So you got to get those two boxes
checked. But if you're doing those and you add these on top, there's
you're really going to see benefit. Yeah, we have a

(01:29:34):
ton more information on the Endless Evolution community.
It's free to join and then a small fee to access a
massive amount of content as it relates to
peptides training movement courses on a
million different things from courses on
sleep, courses on peptides, Parks is on

(01:29:57):
nutrition, courses on hydration, you
name it, really in depth, a number of PhD level courses as
well. So check that out and if you
also need some guidance on particular protocols and things yourself,
you can ask in the community or reach out to Anthony or
myself personally on there. So yeah,

(01:30:20):
support. Love your support with that and supporting
our sponsors with this episode. Merrick Health.

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