Biology Forums - Study Force

The study below uses L-aspartic acid in combination with other amino acids to achieve a desired outcome. I was wondering if D-aspartic acid could be used instead, and if combining it with the other amino acids would help it cross the BBB as well as have similar NMDA-agonist effects, achieving the same result (glutamateric activation).



5. Amino acid blend (AAB):
In order to better study the effects of glutamateric activation, a blend of three
complimentary amino acids was used: L-aspartic acid, L-glutamine, and Ltheanine.
This combination was designed to preferentially activate NMDA
glutamate receptors. Aspartate (the conjugate base of aspartic acid) is a direct
NMDA agonist. The ability of aspartic acid to cross the blood brain barrier is
limited however, to an easily saturated transport mechanism [7] thus the addition
of glutamine and theanine. Glutamine easily crosses the blood brain barrier where
it can then transform into glutamate (the general agonist for all glutamate receptor
types). Theanine also crosses the blood brain barrier and serves a dual purpose:
stimulating the release of dopamine and antagonizing specific glutamate receptor
subtypes. The fact that theanine is thought to preferentially antagonize the AMPA
and Kainate receptor subtypes by an order of magnitude more than the NMDA
receptor subtype [5], should allow preferential binding of the available glutamate
to the NMDA receptors. The dosages used for all tests incorporating this amino
acid blend were 2000mg L-aspartic acid, 4000mg L-glutamine, 300mg Ltheanine.

-Substances that Facilitate Lucid Dreaming – A Case Study
Thomas Yuschak Page 10 of 16

L-aspartic acid is produced in nature, including in your body, and used to build proteins. However, D-aspartic acid isn't used to build proteins.