After sleeping on this article. I woke up this morning with new eyes.
The article makes reference to this website:
www.neuropeptides.nl
The front page notes this:
Neuropeptides are small protein-like molecules used by neurons to communicate with each other. They are neuronal signaling molecules. The brain largely functions by virtue of neuropeptides.
Neuropeptides are expressed and released by neurons, and mediate or modulate neuronal communication by acting on cell surface receptors. The human genome contains about 90 genes that encode precursors of neuropeptides. Neuropeptides can be clustered in at least 10 subfamilies according to structural feature
The Neuropeptide Database is the internet resource to data about all known neuropeptides, their genes, precursors and expression in the brain.
Inside the database you can see families of neuropeptides.
See here:
http://www.neuropept...ides linked.htm
If it is true, as the blurb above says, that neuropeptides are the means of intra-brain communication.
Then all we need to do is figure out which neuropeptides carry a 'neurogenesis' message.
With my new eyes, this morning, I've come to these perspectives.
1. We need the neuropeptide equivalent of human growth hormone(HGH).
Why ?
(a) Because HGH is the master 'growth' switch. Every other growth factor
or co-factor is created _because_ the HGH signal was sent somewhere up stream.
(b) Because if you look at a graph of human growth hormone production
it looks exactly like a graph of human neurogenesis throughout life.
Massive amounts are produced prior to birth, then gradually less and less
throughout life. This is also the pattern for neurogenesis.
So, prime face, HGH is causing, directly or indirectly, neurogenesis.
See the graph below:
http://postimg.org/image/y78jcjn7r/
2. The neuropeptides that are closely associated with HGH are IGF-1 and IGF-2.
IGF-1 controls growth in adults.
IGF-2 controls growth in infants.
Neurogenesis is off the scale in neonates.
Neurogenesis is marginal in adults.
The most promising candidate as an agent of neurogenesis is IGF-2.
IGF-1 and IGF-2 are both available commercially.
IGF-1 == Somatomedin C.
IGF-2 == Somatomedin A.
(Makes me wonder what Somatomedin B is)
I found this abstract on PubMed:
Emerging evidence of insulin-like growth factor 2 as a memory enhancer: a unique animal model of cognitive dysfunction with impaired adult neurogenesis.
Abstract
In the current aging society, cognitive dysfunction is one of the most serious issues that should be urgently resolved. It also affects a wide range of age groups harboring neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Although the molecular mechanism of memory impairment still remains to be determined, neuronal loss and dysfunction has been revealed to mainly attribute to its pathology. The discovery of neural stem cells in the adult brain that are proliferating and able to generate functional neurons has given rise to the idea that neuronal loss could be rescued by manipulating endogenous neural progenitor and stem cells. To this end, we must characterize them in detail and their developmental programming must be better understood. A growing body of evidence has indicated that insulin-like peptides are involved in learning and memory and maintenance of neural progenitor and stem cells, and clinical trials of insulin as a memory enhancer have begun. In contrast to the expectation of insulin and IGF1, the roles of IGF2 in cognitive ability have been poorly understood. However, recent evidence demonstrated in rodents suggests that IGF2 may play a pivotal role in adult neurogenesis and cognitive function. Here, we would like to review the rapidly growing world of IGF2 in cognitive neuroscience and introduce the evidence that its deficit is indeed involved in the impairment of the hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive dysfunction in the model mouse of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, which deletes Dgcr8, a critical gene for microRNA processing.
I would really, really like to read the full text of this paper.
Can someone, anyone, please help with that ?
I would be very grateful 
Here's another article:
IGF2 ameliorates amyloidosis, increases cholinergic marker expression and raises BMP9 and neurotrophin levels in the hippocampus of the APPswePS1dE9 Alzheimer's disease model mice.
Abstract
The development of an effective therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major challenge to biomedical sciences. Because much of early AD pathophysiology includes hippocampal abnormalities, a viable treatment strategy might be to use trophic factors that support hippocampal integrity and function. IGF2 is an attractive candidate as it acts in the hippocampus to enhance memory consolidation, stimulate adult neurogenesis and upregulate cholinergic marker expression and acetylcholine (ACh) release. We performed a seven-day intracerebroventricular infusion of IGF2 in transgenic APPswe.PS1dE9 AD model mice that express green fluorescent protein in cholinergic neurons (APP.PS1/CHGFP) and in wild type WT/CHGFP littermates at 6 months of age representing early AD-like disease. IGF2 reduced the number of hippocampal Aβ40- and Aβ42-positive amyloid plaques in APP.PS1/CHGFP mice. Moreover, IGF2 increased hippocampal protein levels of the ACh-synthesizing enzyme, choline acetyltransferase in both WT/CHGFP and APP.PS1/CHGFP mice. The latter effect was likely mediated by increased protein expression of the cholinergic differentiating factor, BMP9, observed in IGF2-treated mice as compared to controls. IGF2 also increased the protein levels of hippocampal NGF, BDNF, NT3 and IGF1 and of doublecortin, a marker of neurogenesis. These data show that IGF2 administration is effective in reversing and preventing several pathophysiologic processes associated with AD and suggest that IGF2 may constitute a therapeutic target for AD.
I think IGF-2 is a promising neuropeptide to consider with regard to hypothalamic neurogenesis.
I would like to know what a graph of IGF-2 looks like... that is, over the course of a person's lifetime.
I found a graph of IGF-1 earlier. It basically peaks at age 20-ish.. and then fades away.
(A bit like a graph of testosterone production in men)
I'm guessing that the graph of IGF-2 production, looks like a graph of HGH production.
It peaks at birth and then falls away towards the Y-axis until death.
If anyone can find such a graph, i would be very grateful if you could post it to this thread.
The next questions are:
1. Is it possible to take IGF-2 intranasally, via some spray or perhaps a saline solution ?
(As you would with NGF, for example).
2. How much is Somatomedin A ?
3. Where can it be purchased from ?
Edited by playground, 28 February 2016 - 09:02 AM.
