Psyched Wellness Ltd. announced the preliminary data from tests completed by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). One of the primary immune cells in the brain are the microglia, which facilitate neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. Recent work investigated how AME-1 extract could modify microglial functions.

Microglia respond to a variety of stimuli, including lipopolysaccharides found in the cell walls of bacteria (LPS), viral components (such as poly I:C nucleotides) and inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF). In a recent study, researchers stimulated human microglial cells with LPS, poly I:C and TNF in the presence of AME-1 to determine if AME-1 could modify how microglia respond to these common stimulants. The researchers found that a specific nucleotide, poly I:C, caused the microglia to be more activated than normal and produce important immune mediators.

This could potentially indicate that AME-1 boosts the antiviral immune response in the brain, perhaps protecting brain tissue from viral infection. AME-1 had no significant effect on how microglia respond to LPS and TNF. However, AME-1 potentiated poly I:C activation of microglial cells, resulting in greater production of the chemokine, IL-8. The chemokine IL-8 is a protein that attracts immune cells to the site of infection.

Preliminary research has shown that this process may be mediated by AME-1 upregulation of the Toll-Like Receptor -3, which is the receptor that mediates microglial responses to poly I:C. Further experiments will examine how AME-1 upregulates TLR3 by microglial cells and how this could be contributing to the increased responses to poly I:C, which may contribute to the anti-viral immune response in the brain and thus reduce viral infection. This work is preliminary, and more work is needed to further investigate the potential benefits from the natural product AME-1. Psyched Wellness is launching its first AME-1 product, Calm, in the coming months. Calm is currently available for preorder.