Worshiping the Brain While Neglecting the Body

Beta-Beta-amyloid plaques and tau in the brain.

Source: National Institute on Aging, NIH/Flickr

Scientific emphasis on the brain has been baked into our culture for millennia. The Western world, even before the Greek civilization, has been patriarchal, giving rise to a hierarchical social structure. The same vertical system has been unconsciously adopted in medicine and science in general. The brain is glorified sitting at the top, like a king on a throne while the rest of the organs such as the heart, liver, etc. are below, as are other tissues and cells.

Medical doctors and scientists working in the medical field often think of the body as a strictly one-way, mostly top-down, rarely bottom-up communication system. The latter is usually perceived as negative, giving us nothing but trouble like duodenal ulcers or heart attacks. Add to this the Church’s jaundiced view of the genitalia and you hesitate to spend too much time contemplating the lower chakras.

Implications

It is therefore not surprising that one of the major obstacles to achieving progress in treating many diseases is the lack of appreciation by doctors, scientists, and particularly, researchers in the pharmaceutical industry, that the brain, heart, and gut do not function separately from each other. I shall cite some recent research to demonstrate what I mean.

Atherosclerotic plaques are deposits of cholesterol, fibrous tissue, and immune cells that form on the inner lining of arteries. These plaques progressively choke the lumen of the arteries, decreasing the amount of nutrients and oxygen that can reach body tissues. Heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral circulatory problems are among the known consequences. In recent decades, nobody has asked whether there is a direct connection between the plugged-up artery and the brain. Recently, Saraj K Mohanta and his team at the Institute of Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig‐Maximilians‐University, Munich, asked that question and discovered that atherosclerosis is more than just a plaque. In fact, it is a chronic inflammatory disease of the entire artery. The peripheral nervous system responds to such inflammation and sends signals to the brain. The brain processes the signals and sends a stress signal back to the inflamed blood vessel, reinforcing the inflammation and resulting in an even larger plaque. This previously unknown communication circuit between the arteries and the brain is potentially of enormous significance and represents a completely new understanding of atherosclerosis.

And here is another example, still on plaques but this time the amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s. According to a new study in the journal PLOS Biology, by John Mamo of Curtin University in Bentley, Australia, amyloid protein made in the liver can cause neurodegeneration in the brain. Since the protein is thought to be a key contributor to the development of Alzheimer's disease, the results suggest that the liver may play an important role in the onset or progression of the disease. If this is the case, rather than focusing all research on the brain, might it not be more rewarding to find ways to either prevent the liver from making the amyloid plaques or to at least destroy the amyloid protein as it enters the circulation—that is, before it reaches the brain?

University of South Australia scientists have uncovered a link between mental illness and widely fluctuating blood pressure, which can lead to cardiovascular disease and organ damage. These findings may have important implications for patients suffering from mental illness, highlighting the need for comprehensive cardiovascular risk reduction.

There is a rapidly increasing amount of evidence showing the extent to which the microbiome (the sum of all the bacteria and viruses residing in the gastro-intestinal tract) interacts at virtually all levels of complexity, ranging from direct cell-to-cell communication to extensive systemic signaling, and involving various organs and organ systems, including the central nervous system. Furthermore, these bacteria produce metabolites that support a wide variety of important functions in our bodies.

More than 40 million Americans take statins, the most common type of prescription drug. While statins have been shown to effectively lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risks of stroke and heart attack, they do not work the same for everyone.

Researchers from Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle found that the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome is predictive of the efficacy of statins and the magnitude of negative side effects.
Over 250 million Americans live with depression. Unfortunately, the drugs used to treat depression also kill beneficial gut bacteria, and this may cause unpleasant side effects, including nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. People may even stop taking their medication because of these effects.

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, scientists examined the antimicrobial properties of different antidepressant drugs on common gut microbes. Studies continuing from this research could enable us to minimize these unpleasant side effects. Looking at someone’s gut bacteria might also allow clinicians to select the ideal antidepressant treatment.

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Depending on a person’s microbiome, certain drugs may benefit some people but not others. No doubt, assessing an individual’s microbiome before commencing treatment will be an important lab test in the future.

Final Thoughts

I think it is imperative for science, including the health sciences, to adopt a more nuanced, nonbinary attitude toward the brain and other organs, tissues, and cells. Failure to recognize this is blocking research, the imagination and curiosity of scientists, and the discovery of new and better treatments for many physical and mental diseases.