Neurophysiology

Functional Anatomy
Medicine started out with a study of anatomy. However, neurophysiology is much more interesting because it studies the functions of various parts of the nervous system. Anatomy along can be very dry. Neurophysiology may yield clues to curing the terrible diseases. It has yield many clues to these mysteries in the past, but the jigsaw puzzles of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease have not been put together completely. Pathology has been seen in the hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease, which is characterized by a loss of memory. The hippocampus is thought to house memory. Thus a disease in a very tiny part of the brain can foul up the entire organism.

This is ATP, a very important molecule. It stores energy which powers the reactions of the cells. ATP has been reported by a Russian group to be low in schizophrenia. This appears to confirm LInus Pauling's much criticized theory of a deficiency localized to the brain in schizophrenia. Linus Pauling did not know what the substance was that was deficient. He did know that vitamin deficiencies often produced psychiatric symptoms.

This is a cynical view of the ancient study of anatomy. This image is shown courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

This is glutamic acid, which is slightly different from glutamine, as depicted by Rader. Glutamic acid is bad in schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's chorea, and celiac disease. However, anorexia is a different story. The anorexic is suffering from malnutrition, and therefore almost any nutrition is good. The anorexic can die of starvation because the heart muscles need carbohydrates for energy.

This Purkinje cell was drawn by Wilhelm Wundt in 1902.

This is adrenaline, also called epinephrine. Years ago epinephrine was suspected in schizophrenia, but it was found that very little of it is in the brain. A related neurotransmitter, dopamine, is found in relatively large concentrations in the brain. Epinephrine theories for schizophrenia were abandoned.

This 1918 drawing by Lewis shows the brain stem, or hind-brain.

This is glutamine, an amino acid found in high concentrations in the brain. There is a glutamine theory of schizophrenia. Dohan recommended a diet low in gluten, a wheat protein, and milk, which contains glutamine. This theory is a branch of orthomolecular medicine which blames diseases on food allergies. The food allergy theory is very strong because it has been proven to be correct for lactose intolerance and for galactosemia (an allergy to galactose).

This is a 1888 drawing of a girl with anorexia nervosa. This engraing is shown courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

This photo of Dr. Julius Axelrod is shown courtesy of the National Library of Medicine. Axelrod was born in 1912 and won the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters. Axelrod is still alive.

This 1627 engraving of the base of the brain is shown courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, which has been my main source of information for this website.