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02.06.2022

Surviving covid thanks to GABA supplementation

GABA supplementation may not only improve sleep quality and reduce stress, but may also protect against the deadly effects of a coronavirus infection. That is what an American animal study suggests.

Study
Molecular scientists at the University of California in Los Angeles exposed mice to murine hepatitis virus 1 [MHV-1]. MHV-1 is a coronavirus and related to SARS-CoV-2. It is lethal to mice and, like SARS-CoV-2, triggers a cascade of cytokine-driven inflammatory processes.

GABA inhibits inflammation. The researchers have been studying the anti-inflammatory effect of GABA for years. They previously showed that GABA alleviates diabetes by inhibiting inflammation.

After being infected with the coronavirus, half of the mice were given drinking water in which the researchers had added GABA. If the mice had been adult humans, they would have received about 2,400 milligrams of GABA daily. This is a somewhat high, but certainly not astronomically high dose.

In some of the mice in this group, supplementation started on the day of infection [GABA0]. In another part this only happened 3 days after the infection [GABA3].

The other half of the mice received drinking water without additives.

Results
GABA supplementation reduced the severity of the disease symptoms after infection and the risk of death. In the GABA0 group, the number of deaths was 0.

GABA is a neurotransmitter that interacts with different types of GABA receptors. A much more specific GABA receptor agonist is baclofen. Baclofen has particular affinity for the GABA-B receptor.

There is also such a thing as a GABA-A receptor. A substance that specifically acts on this receptor is homotaurine.

Because the researchers wanted to know which receptor for inhibiting inflammatory reactions during a serious corona infection is now most relevant, they repeated their tests with those two substances. Homotaurine appeared to protect the mice against disease and death, baclofen did not.

So it is stimulation of the GABA-A receptor that may protect against covid.

By the way, if the mice had been adult humans, they would have ingested about 300 milligrams of homotaurine daily.

Conclusion
"Since GABA and homotaurine are safe for human consumption, they are promising candidates to help treat coronavirus infections", summarize the researchers.

Source:
Viruses. 2021 May 23;13(6):966.

More:
How arginine enhances the effect of GABA 18.06.2019
Non-alcoholic beer improves sleep quality by boosting the functioning of the GABA receptor 28.11.2015
GABA: body fat inhibitor and insulin booster 30.12.2014

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