The saying about cockroaches in my head turned out to be prophetic. Almost. Such large creatures have not yet been seen in the brain, but the "trifle" has been found. The photographs of the "aliens" were taken by Rosalinda Roberts, a neuroanatomist Rosalinda Roberts of The University of Alabama in Birmingham. And she showed them to colleagues who recently gathered at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
“It's a bomb, I'm shocked,” Ronald McGregor of the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research, commented figuratively to Sciencemag on the emergence of evidence of microbial invasion of the brain.
Rosalind and her colleagues - Courtney Walker and Charlene Farmer - examined the brains of 34 deceased in an electron microscope. And they all found bacteria that got there during the life of people.
The little ovals on the left eat the bacteria that have lodged in the brain. They nest near the blood vessels (dark circle on the right).
The bacteria, it turned out, turned out to be representatives of three known species Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes - from among those that live in the intestines. This was demonstrated by genetic analysis. And he, in turn, testified: microorganisms entered the brain from the intestines. They entered and settled in a very unusual environment for themselves. How? There is no exact answer. Maybe with blood, or maybe through the nose, scientists suggest.
Nervous tissue is protected by the blood-brain barrier - a network of cells that stands in the way of microorganisms and even viruses. It filters them out. Gut bacteria somehow mysteriously overcame this barrier. Not filtered out.
The bacteria formed a colony in the brain, most likely from the intestines. They themselves are intestinal.
Neuroanatomists have made a discovery trying to understand whether the brains of schizophrenics are different from those of mentally healthy people. No difference was found. Except bacteria. Their immediate guilt has not yet been proven. However, it is possible that microorganisms are precisely the cause of the disease, the causes of which are still mysterious.
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Bacteria can bring to a psychiatric hospital
A spooky story was told by New Scientist magazine about an American teenager named Sammy Maloney from Maine. At the age of 12, he suddenly began to turn into a psycho. As a result, it turned. And he probably would have remained so if doctors - purely by chance - had not discovered the cause of his illness. She was shocking. They turned bacteria into a mentally ill boy, which he caught somewhere.
The mother said that the boy answered inappropriately, walked with his eyes closed, holding his breath, entered the house only through the back door, asked not to open the windows, not to turn off the light. He wore only green clothes, lost a lot of weight and itched.
The psychiatrists, to whom the alarmed parents turned, decided that Sammy had a banal neurosis with characteristic obsessions. They treated in their own way. And the boy, meanwhile, only got worse, the attacks followed one after another. He began to itch so often and severely that he scratched the skin until it bled. As a result, the infectious disease doctors took samples from Sammy. And they found streptococci. Antibiotics got rid of all mental oddities.
Madeleine Cunningham of the University of Oklahoma then suggested that the bacteria had entered the boy's brain. We got into the area that is responsible for motor reactions - that is, for human movements. They provoked the release of dopamine, thereby mimicking the action of natural signaling molecules. In essence, the bacteria were giving false commands. They also caused a nervous tic.
According to Madeleine, streptococci can also provoke emotional outbursts, and cognitive disorders, and even sudden aggression.
At that time, few believed the researcher. Like, where are microorganisms in the brain from? And it would be worth listening - the intestinal bacteria that made their way into the head is proof of this.
According to Teodor Postolache of the University of Maryland in Baltimore, creatures can enter the brain, some parasites are larger than bacteria. For example, Toxoplasma (Toxoplasma gondii).
Toxoplasma life is bizarre. The parasite can inhabit any mammal. But it will reproduce only in cats, and sexually. It lays eggs, which continue to exist in cat feces. Of these, it migrates into mice. Mice are eaten by cats, ensuring further reproduction of Toxoplasma.
People get infected from cats. Although they can get toxoplasma from undercooked meat of pigs, rams and cattle. Once in the human body, parasites enter the bloodstream. Further, as scientists suggest, they somehow end up in the brain, where they interact with local chemicals. They also mimic natural brain signals that turn out to be false. Perhaps this is the reason that people infected with Toxoplasma tend to violate the established rules, to commit reckless acts. And at the same time demonstrate a delayed reaction. At least for drivers it is dangerous.
The cycle of Toxoplasma, in which humans also participate.
Scientists studied blood samples from 146 people responsible for car accidents. Almost all were found to have parasites.
Why would Toxoplasma change human behavior? Researchers cannot answer. "There is no evolutionary stimulus in sight," they say. The effect on mice is much clearer. Reckless rodents, at the behest of parasites, are no longer afraid of even the smell of cat urine. And they become easy prey for cats. Which contributes to the multiplication of Toxoplasma.
But here's what's surprising. According to British parasitologist Richard Holliman, nearly 70 percent of those infected with Toxoplasma either keep cats or dream of having them.
Most likely, the brain actually has its own microflora. Although so far this is just an assumption - even if it is very plausible. According to some colleagues of neuroanatomists, if it is confirmed and proven, it may well pull even the Nobel Prize. Over time, of course.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY