Yellow Spice Brightens Wit?

I love a good curry. But what I really love is a good curry that provides brain power. A study published in the March 24th JBC Papers in Press suggests that curcumin (a component found in the spice turmeric) stimulates the generation of brain cells.

What is interesting about this study is not just that curcumin is an antioxidant or protective to neurons in culture (cells grown in petri dishes) but that low doses promote the generation of new brain cells in living mice. What makes the study even more enticing is that the cells sprouted in the hippocampus of adult mice.

As we're all too aware, the older we get, the less eager our brain is to develop cells. The hippocampus, a region devoted to learning and memory, is compromised by age and ravaged by Alzheimer's disease. The study authors speculate that curcumin stimulates synaptic plasticity (increasing connections between brain cells) in the same way that exercising does.

There is some discussion regarding the dosage -as too much may negate a desired effect. But the possibility that a portion of good curry might brighten more than just a bowl full of rice puts the dish on my menu.

The above image, from the original PDF, shows the hippocampus stained with a reagent that detects proliferating cells. As you can see the Cur (mice treated with curcumin) have more proliferating cells than control mice, Con (treated with saline)

Kim et al. 2008

Falling without Falling

My son's tendency to run full throttle, regardless of height or hazard, has given me opportunity to experience two new physical phenomena. Every time I see him stumble, I experience a falling sensation. Not a little yikes but a full blown stomach plunging I'm dropping feeling. Second is my surprising ability to catch him.

After reading The Body Has a Mind of Its Own by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee (a captivating read), I have a renewed appreciation for how the brain and body network together.

Areas in the brain are devoted to keeping track of limbs, body parts, and other items within close proximity to the body. Moreover, these areas are malleable. With months of carrying and holding my son, my brain's ability to assimilate his form into my own body map may be what's going on. This gives the term "attachment parenting" a whole new physical meaning. Could my brain view my son as an extension of my peripersonal space (the space around the body) even when I'm not holding him? Could this explain why my innards drop as I witness him trip?

And what about my new found agility. I caught him by the ankle as he dove, smiling, head first off the jungle gym at the park. I grabbed him mid air, under the arms as he leaped off a picnic table in cannon ball formation. And I ever so fluidly prevented him from a face first impact when he bounced off the top bunk bed. I couldn't have performed those tasks if I put my mind to it. Maybe his gleeful inability to grasp consequence is really a profound understanding of my reaction limits. Perhaps his brain has incorporated me as an annex map, so-to-speak, of himself. After all, an ear to ear grin develops in concert with me stepping into catching range.

Dancing Eyelid

Well, it's happening again. My right eye just below the brow is twitching. In 2001 I had an eye twitch that lasted for three weeks! When you're constantly feeling your eye quiver, three weeks is a long time. I fear an eternal twitch.

As someone who spent years looking at muscle under the microscope, I can visualize the long slender striated cells glowing red with umpteen blue dots -many nuclei. Imagining calcium flowing through channels embedded like donuts in the cell's membrane, I think, Yes, I need potassium and reach for the bananas.

I first noticed it while brushing my teeth. Looking close, I saw it go. Like a small creature trying to get out, the muscle struggled. It twitched through breakfast. It twitched through the credit card transaction at the grocery store, and it moved to my rendition of Bo Diddly's Mona while I practiced the guitar.

Maybe it was caused by the piece of glitter that took two days to find and extract (an occupational hazard). Or maybe it's because of fatigue or stress (that's what my opthamologist would say). Or perhaps it's a sign of serious neurological doom (my brain just goes there sometimes).

Serious persistent eyelid spasms, blepharospasm, is associated with neurological conditions like Parkinson's disease. Sometimes damage to the basal ganglia (a structure of the brain responsible for motor control and many other things) causes the problem. But really, no one has been able to map out the mechanism behind this irritating phenomenon and I am relieved to find out that it's rare to identify a condition in which to link it.

And if it does go on and on there is a treatment -injection of botulinum toxin. Famous for treating wrinkles, the paralyzing poison promises that the eyelid will loose its groove.

Aminomen

I wrote Aminomen, a silly graphic biochemistry book, with kids in mind. It turns out that adults get a kick out of it too. It introduces concepts and terminology with a series of amino acid characters, each associated with a biochemical attribute. I'd like to think that it associates biochemistry with levity and simplicity. My daughter already knows that cysteine is responsible for her curly hair.

The Devastating Loss of Tongue Dexterity

With my recent toxic plant preoccupation, I have received an assortment of interesting anecdotes including one regarding the yellow star thistle.

Horses that forage on the tall spiny yellow flower die of starvation. Under the impression that the plant causes an obliteration of appetite, my interest was piqued -especially since my second current preoccupation is how the brain responds to food in the satiation/hedonistic sense.

The disease, following ingestion of this nasty invasive, is called equine nigrapallidal encephalomalacia (how much tongue dexterity do you need to say that?). While the cause of death is starvation (or dehydration), loss of appetite is not the reason. It turns out that the plant's toxins result in brain lesions in areas having nothing to do with detecting food volume, taste or calories; they have to do with fine motor control. For a horse, the only thing that requires intricate movement ability is the tongue.


Moret et al. 2005
Sander et al. 2001