Very well written and researched post, I’m surprised by the lack of comments.
One small additional note on what you briefly touched upon: neuronal circuitry organized in a more sparse and efficient manner is associated with higher intelligence.
The cerebral cortex of high-IQ individuals is characterized by a low degree of neurite density and orientation dispersion [...] Intellectual performance is likely to benefit from this kind of microstructural architecture since restricting synaptic connections to an efficient minimum facilitates the differentiation of signals from noise while saving network and energy resources.
Thus, a drug approach of increasing neuronal connections and dendritic complexity should be paired with an efficient synaptic pruner, perhaps like Rapamycin.
Something else that I recently came across is klotho. A single low dose of klotho administered to aged nonhuman primates enhanced memory, and even more interesting is that a study found that peripheral α-klotho protein fragment administration even in *young* mice was cognitively enhancing, and that it induced cleavage of the NMDAR subunit GluN2B and enhanced NMDAR-dependent synaptic plasticity, which is reminiscent of the “Doogie” mice study. Apparently klotho is already in clinical trials? Though overall, I doubt healthy adult IQ can be significantly increased (on the OOM of >1 SD) through any drug. I agree that the gene editing approach is much more promising. With drugs, one would also have to commit to a chronic regimen of some nootropics cocktail, and effects likely wouldn’t be permanent after you stopped.
Very well written and researched post, I’m surprised by the lack of comments.
One small additional note on what you briefly touched upon: neuronal circuitry organized in a more sparse and efficient manner is associated with higher intelligence.
Thus, a drug approach of increasing neuronal connections and dendritic complexity should be paired with an efficient synaptic pruner, perhaps like Rapamycin.
Something else that I recently came across is klotho. A single low dose of klotho administered to aged nonhuman primates enhanced memory, and even more interesting is that a study found that peripheral α-klotho protein fragment administration even in *young* mice was cognitively enhancing, and that it induced cleavage of the NMDAR subunit GluN2B and enhanced NMDAR-dependent synaptic plasticity, which is reminiscent of the “Doogie” mice study. Apparently klotho is already in clinical trials? Though overall, I doubt healthy adult IQ can be significantly increased (on the OOM of >1 SD) through any drug. I agree that the gene editing approach is much more promising. With drugs, one would also have to commit to a chronic regimen of some nootropics cocktail, and effects likely wouldn’t be permanent after you stopped.