First off, I am a novice at best when it comes to understanding pharmacology and neuroscience. I can grasp some concepts, but I am still yet to dive in. Neuroscience is simply a hobby of mine. I like to research what’s available to me online, especially when concerning my bipolar disorder treatment.
Selenium in My NAC Supplement
I’ve been taking an NAC supplement for a relevant amount of time now. By relevant, I mean that it is a legitimate part of what keeps me sane. It’s an OTC supplement, but it is doing something.
On to the main topic of this post, selenium and dopamine. I recently started doing some research concerning selenium and its potential role in treating bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, as well as its general role in neurobiology, because the NAC supplement I purchased off of Amazon contains 25 mcg of Selenium per 600 mg capsule. I’ve been having positive results with the supplement I’m taking and I had a feeling some of it had to do with the selenium.
According to this study I could be right. This particular study examines the relationship between selenium and dopamine. If you’re interested in learning about what selenium can do for dopaminergic function in the brain, then I strongly urge that you take a look at the study. What I got out of it was that selenium is a good thing concerning dopamine related functions in the brain.
It was concluded from the present study that Se’s central action might be related to its ability to potentiate DA function.
This is the last sentence of the study abstract. I could be totally wrong, but to me, this sounds like selenium helps dopamine function in the brain. If this is true, it is definitely an element worthy of scrutiny when it comes to alternative treatment of bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses comprised of dopamine dysfunction in the brain.