Interesting just got taken back to this thread through my searches.
I came across MCT for stimulating appetite kind of accidentally. Medium-chain triglycerides are isolated from coconut oil & its a ready available supplement.
It's shown in humans to substantially increase the ratio of ACYLATED GHRELIN which is the ghrelin linked to appetite. https://www.scienced...05457716302765 6 grams + for 2 weeks almost doubled their acylated ghrelin ratio. another study showed 20g ingested over 10 minutes, for 3 days, did not impact it much. another study showed 1 week doubled the acylated ghrelin % at 45g. so this suggests taking decent amounts of MCT all at once for longer than 1 week should have a big effect of increasing acylated ghrelin. it works by increasing the O-acyltransferase enzyme.
Now looking more into the study i saw NEUROPEPTIDE Y was also massively increased by MCT, it more than doubled in the MCT high group by 4 weeks. neuropeptide y is a powerful appetite increaser, rats injected with this double their food intake.
(which is funny as MCT is often marketed for losing weight & increasing satiety - but it's trialed in anorexic patients, & by this appetite should ramp up by 4 weeks)
Neuropeptide Y can stimulate NEUROGENESIS IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS (+memory +antidepressant?) https://pubmed.ncbi.....gov/20095007/ & it acts within the HYPOTHALAMUS which is where it mainly comes from (where OREXIN neurons also are) https://www.scienced...19697818690149X
I wonder if there could be some kind of breakthrough here for treating narcolepsy in people with orexin neurons left, or treating daytime sleepiness, with MCT
Intuitively it makes sense right - acylated ghrelin signals hunger by increasing neuropeptide Y activation -> orexin pathways activate to produce wakefulness -> food seeking mode
then i came across the study in OP, neuropeptide Y increases wakefulness in rats (in both routes of administration not just direct hypothalamus injection) https://journals.phy...egu.00919.2005
"it is also possible that NPY's stimulatory action on orexinergic cells in the LH mediates the wake-promoting effect of NPY."
MCT is a nice candidate, 10g - 45g mixed C:8 C:10, each morning for a month
Edited by CarlSagan, 08 March 2022 - 10:37 AM.