New role found for the immune system: Controlling Social Interactions
In a startling discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the immune system directly affects – and even controls – creatures’ social behavior, such as their desire to interact with others.
So could immune system problems contribute to an inability to have normal social interactions? The answer appears to be yes, and that finding could have significant implications for neurological diseases such as autism-spectrum disorders and schizophrenia.
“The brain and the adaptive immune system were thought to be isolated from each other, and any immune activity in the brain was perceived as sign of a pathology. And now, not only are we showing that they are closely interacting, but some of our behavior traits might have evolved because of our immune response to pathogens,” explained Jonathan Kipnis, chair of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience.
“It’s crazy, but maybe we are just multicellular battlefields for two ancient forces: pathogens and the immune system. Part of our personality may actually be dictated by the immune system.”
Source & further reading:
https://news.virginia.edu/content/shocking-new-role-found-immune-system-controlling-social-interactions
Gif: Normal brain activity, left, and a hyper-connected brain.
Credit: Anita Impagliazzo, UVA Health System
#neuroscience #immunesystem #research
An allergy to certain types of people, interesting, 'bad vibe' detection. I sometimes get that feeling with people, when there is something you just don't like about them and can't completely figure it out. The opposite is possible too, maybe.
ReplyDeleteA 72 hour fast restarts the immune system , which I do a few times every year...Absorption of naturally fermented foods aids the immune system, of which all starts in the " gut" and this is a most interesting article...Aahhhh, the sixth and seventh sense ....
ReplyDeleteA couple decades back a scene from a documentary on hypnosis seen on television, showed the hypnotist pen the outline of a cold coin he put on the subject's skin while telling the person that it was red hot. In the following minutes the subject developed a blister at location.
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough to say that developing a blister under the conditions reveals enrollment of the adaptive immune system by the brain, but anyway the scene reveals the existence of surprising pathways between brain and tissular physiology of the kind driven by immunity. Always kept memory of the case as representative of the possible against contrary intuitions.
It's mainly the immune system that drives the possible interaction with a future mate, it gives hidden indication about the compatibility of the genome of the couple... If the couple form, then the oxytocin reinforces the bond.
ReplyDeleteMay be it works thru the nose, with an interchange of pheromons, by extrapolation, what people feel like bad vibes Sam Collett could be a response of the brain to uncompatible pheromons.
Perhaps there are even quantum reactions going on that we can't detect. Quantum pheromones, that would be interesting, though it may sound a bit far fetched. We can react to a person even if they are not present, as we can be reminded of them through a photograph, words or even memories and fantasies
ReplyDeleteSam Collett React if the person isn't present, that goes far beyond of a study of the brain mechanisms... But I follow you on that subjet.
ReplyDeleteBoris Borcic , interesting reference.
ReplyDeleteMerci beaucoup.
This thread goes from bad to worse. Corina Marinescu I blame you.
ReplyDeletelolol
OW! My Chakras!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Miss Corina....
ReplyDelete