A drug that increases dopamine can reverse the effects of inflammation on the brain in depression, Emory study shows

submitted by Drewski from news.emory.edu

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Very interesting study. So some background, levodopa is not actually a 'drug' per se, its a naturally occurring amino acid precursor to dopamine (like 5htp for serotonin), I have no idea how they were able to patent this as 5htp is not patentable despite being analogous to L-Dopa. L-dopa is present in fairly large quantities in mucuna pruriens seeds and extracts, these are legal herbal supplements that do not need a prescription

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

LOL the patent office isn't all it's cracked up to be these days