Your gut is directly connected to your brain, by a newly discovered neuron circuit:
The human gut is lined with more than 100 million nerve cells—it's practically a brain unto itself. And indeed, the gut actually talks to the brain, releasing hormones into the bloodstream that, over the course of about 10 minutes, tell us how hungry it is, or that we shouldn't have eaten an entire pizza. But a new study reveals the gut has a much more direct connection to the brain through a neural circuit that allows it to transmit signals in mere seconds. The findings could lead to new treatments for obesity, eating disorders, and even depression and autism—all of which have been linked to a malfunctioning gut.
The study reveals "a new set of pathways that use gut cells to rapidly communicate with ... the brain stem," says Daniel Drucker, a clinician-scientist who studies gut disorders at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, who was not involved with the work. Although many questions remain before the clinical implications become clear, he says, "This is a cool new piece of the puzzle."
[...] Additional clues about how gut sensory cells benefit us today lie in a separate study, published today in Cell. Researchers used lasers to stimulate the sensory neurons that innervate the gut in mice, which produced rewarding sensations the rodents worked hard to repeat. The laser stimulation also increased levels of a mood-boosting neurotransmitter called dopamine in the rodents' brains, the researchers found.
Combined, the two papers help explain why stimulating the vagus nerve with electrical current can treat severe depression in people, says Ivan de Araujo, a neuroscientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, who led the Cell study. The results may also explain why, on a basic level, eating makes us feel good. "Even though these neurons are outside the brain, they perfectly fit the definition of reward neurons" that drive motivation and increase pleasure, he says.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:13PM (1 child)
This "circuit" isnt new, maybe they figured out a new thing it does, but the "circuit" has been well known for a very long time.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @12:40AM
Millennials weren't alive thousands of years ago to discover it.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:30PM (4 children)
Dopamine is also responsible for psychosis, so I take medicine that blocks its neurotransmitter receptors.
I've often puzzled over how it could also be responsible for making us feel good, as there are plenty of times that I feel totally awesome.
I figure that what makes the difference is the location in the brain where dopamine has each of these effects, but I'm too lazy to Google it. Could you look it up for me? If so I'll give you a reacharound.
THNAX!
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:53PM
No reacharound required. [wikipedia.org]
I can go one better [sciencedaily.com] or two better [haaretz.com] if you don't tell Ethanol Fueled about our little arrangement.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @01:47AM (2 children)
Dopamine (or lack of) is also involved in Parkinson's Disease. PD comes in many "flavors" (over a dozen, I've heard), and is far from fully understood. Another interesting thing I've learned since a relative came down with PD is that there is no test to determine if you have it--the "test" is to get on the meds (levidopa or similar) and see if your symptoms improve.
It would be very cool if this discovery led to another type of treatment for Parkinson's.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday September 24 2018, @08:51AM (1 child)
... but not actual Parkinsons.
They _all_ cause hand tremor which for my from time to time is so severe that I am unable to type. Fortunately Cogentin as well as over-the-counter Benedryl helps quite a lot with this.
More serious is that antipsychotics can cause a form of brain damage called Tardive Dyskinesia.
In my own case, while Risperdal was quite effective at a very low dose at first, over time a phenomenon known as Brain Plasticity led to my requirement for increasingly higher doses; those high doses resulted in a minor, non-permanent form of TD in which I repeatedly opened and closed my mouth. A casual observe might think I was chewing gum with my mouth open.
Severe TD is generally permanent and causes repetitive motions of one's entire body, fortunately rarely that motion can be so severe that it puts on in a wheelchair.
Oddly TD doesn't generally cause dismay to those who experience it, rather other people are disturbed by it, in my own case my ex would mimic my mouth motions, leading me to stop doing it for a while but as soon as my attention wandered I'd start opening and closing it again.
I don't take Risperdal anymore. Happily perphenazine works well for me and so far has not caused TD.
Akathesia is an inability to sit still, which too can be debilitating. Fortunately for me I've never experienced it.
If you get severe TD your only option will be to stop taking your current antipsychotic. In principle you could run out of different kinds of antipsychotics but I've never heard of that actually happening.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday September 24 2018, @07:00PM
I can relate to something like that. An inability to keep your legs still.
Cause:
Arthritis Specialist: Try this Tramadol (generic for Ultram) for your pain! Be sure to take it every single day.
Results:
* Yes it helps a lot for pain
Bad Side effects:
* I was in a good mood. All the time. Every day. Happy. This is just not natural. I think I'm a generally cheerful and happy person. Always looking for a punch line. At this point in my career only goal to get modded funny. But this kind of good mood is just not natural.
* Can't sit still. Can't stop jittering. Figeting.
* Some sleep difficulty.
* only once: auditory hallucinations. I wake up in the night. I think I hear voices talking outside my house. But when I listen, there is nothing there. Try to go back to sleep. Mind wanders. Hear the sound of voices again. But nothing intelligible. When I listen to hear what is said, nothing is there.
That was the final straw. I quit taking it.
No thanks! I'll go back to occasionally using hydrocodone thank you. I've taken it for a long time and have no trouble stopping taking it when I don't need it.
So I stop the Tramadol. And it has withdrawal symptoms. Which only increased my motivation to stop taking it and never take it again.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:43PM (1 child)
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone,
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone,
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone,
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone,
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone,
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone,
Your gut is directly connected to your brain!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 24 2018, @07:02PM
Doctors, please note. If a patient is suffering explosive bowel movements, it could be a brain disorder.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:43PM
And occasionally, the connection is not even nervous.
Important part is "γαστέρες οἶον", from Hesiod's Theogony.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Gaaark on Monday September 24 2018, @01:03AM
If I consume dairy products, among other reactions I get angry and I can feel my emotions changing.
I believe a lot of mental problems are due to what we eat.
My 5cents.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Monday September 24 2018, @01:09AM
I had always heard that light affected mood.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Monday September 24 2018, @01:45AM (2 children)
I shot a bowl just b4 readin ur headline, man I could really use a pop tart. Or a pizza. 14".
Oh shit, kopz?
We be good, give 'em pizza, say it's modern donuts, and drive away
/ I may, um, "may", have had too much to drink
// Or, I could be texting on a freeway at 80 MPH
/// That's "really fast" to u kilometer idjuts
//// I'm on the wrong site, aren't I?
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @03:33AM (1 child)
Generally a good idea to post AC after consuming psychoactive drugs, especially depressants like alcohol. For me, alcohol can bring out evil me if I'm not careful.
Probably should do that as well with cannabis. At least I find it makes my comments unusually insightful (according to the mods anyway--wasn't sure at first but then I kept consistently getting upmods after smoking), and high me really isn't the same person as down me. ("Down me" as in Mr. X's writing [marijuana-uses.com].) I think that down me is just a shadow of the real me, shackled by bad, intrusive memories, which can explode into evil me with alcohol. High me is free of those disturbing, obsessive thoughts and sees things much more objectively. But I suppose that cannabis affects everybody differently.
Evil dead analogy. Down me has a hand I had to chop off after it became infested with evil; that me isn't whole. Evil me is a deadite. High me is made groovy.
Maybe soon I'll be able to be high me more often. I don't really ever get the munchies, though. Just rarely. The stuff seems to regulate my body weight like magic anyhow, so I don't really need to worry when I get the odd craving. Usually it's my body telling me that it needs something, and cannabis makes me more sensitive to those needs. I've learned not to ignore it. Cannabis enhances my entire nervous system, and I guess this research gives an explanation for how I can just magically know what my gut needs.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday September 24 2018, @09:33AM
> At least I find it makes my comments unusually insightful (according to the mods anyway--wasn't sure at first but then I kept consistently getting upmods after smoking)
consider the possibility that upmodders are high too.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @02:14AM (4 children)
It's an odd preoccupation in the West, to look for mystical capabilities and influences of our digestive system on our bodies. There's practically a submission every week here of our gut this, and our gut that.
I picked up a book that a friend had on his shelf, at first sight it appeared like a self help and first aid book. But everything ended in "cleansing your colon". Weird shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @04:52AM (2 children)
If you're doing weird shits, maybe your colon needs cleansing.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday September 24 2018, @08:51AM (1 child)
Or just read up on Dr. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, Michigan [wikipedia.org]. Seventh-day Adventists, much cleaner, generally, than those who came on the Fifth or Sixth Days.
(Score: 1) by Goghit on Tuesday September 25 2018, @06:06AM
Ah yes, the dude who invented corn flakes in an attempt to keep bored asylum patients from masturbating themselves insane(r).
A little something to ponder over breakfast.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 24 2018, @03:57PM
I think there are certainly charlatans that get in on the action, but there has been some pretty interesting research that points to the ability of your gut bacteria to signal your brain; likewise cases where people that needed to get a microbiome transplant (Ewww) ended up craving different types of foods, ones that more closely matched those of their donor.
It makes sense from a bacterial point of view to attempt to control the behavior of your host to improve your chances of survival.