We are all familiar with caffeine's stimulatory effects, but how does it actually work? Check out this episode of Medicurio to learn more about the world's most commonly used psychoactive drug.



I ended off with saying how caffeine has a variety of medicinal uses, but didn't really go in depth. If you would like to learn more, continue reading.

Caffeine as an adjuvant painkiller: Scientists aren't too sure how caffeine can boost the effects of various NSAIDs, but they have a few possible theories: caffeine may slow down the breakdown of NSAIDs, resulting in longer duration of their effect; block pain neurons that use adenosine as a neurotransmitter; or change a person's mood so that even though there is pain, the person doesn't really care about it. If you are interested, this Cochrane review (a paper that summarized the results of over 40 different studies) goes more in-depth into this phenomenon: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10...

Caffeine can prevent neurodegenerative disease: There have been studies that found a correlation between drinking a few cups of coffee a day and slower onset of neurodegenerative diseases, but it is still unclear how caffeine does this. If you recall from the video, when adenosine stimulates A2A receptors on wake-promoting neurons, those neurons increase in activity. A2A receptors are also found on other neurons and also increase their activity. The idea is that in neurodegenerative diseases, these neurons actually begin to become overworked and die off. When caffeine binds to A2A receptors, it actually allows them to rest, making caffeine a neuroprotective agent. Keep in mind that this is just one theory and may be shown to be completely wrong in a few years time when new research shows an entirely different mechanism, but it is the best guess that scientists have now.