Studying the human body, scientists from Columbia University came to the conclusion that in the human body, in addition to the already well-known brain and spinal cord, there is one more brain.
In the course of research, experts discovered that humans also have a third brain - the intestinal. He is responsible for the functioning and healthy functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Columbia University professor Michael Gershon argues that the intestinal nervous system, which according to the canons of traditional anatomy and physiology is just a collection of nerve nodes and nerve endings, is much more complex and is actually an autonomous brain.
The "gut brain" controls all digestion processes. Even if contact with the brain and spinal cord is lost, the intestines continue to function.
It was found that in the folds of the tissues lining the esophagus, stomach, intestines, there is a complex of nerve cells that exchange signals with the help of special neurotransmitter substances. This allows this whole complex to work independently of the brain. The “gut brain”, like the brain, is capable of learning. Like the brain, this brain is nourished by "glial" cells, and it also has the same cells responsible for immunity, the same protection. The similarity is enhanced by the same neurotransmitters as serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, and the same neuropeptide proteins.
As Michael Gershon explains, this amazing brain owes its origin to the fact that the earliest tubular ancestors had what is called the "reptilian brain" - a primitive nervous system, which, in the process of increasing the complexity of organisms, gave creatures a brain, the functions of which are extremely diverse. The remaining relict system was transformed into a center that controls the activity of internal organs, and, above all, digestion.
The human body is endowed with such a complex autonomous system.