Ending, FINALLY, the shameful stigmatization of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: Part 1

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This article wants to end this stigmatization by providing an innovative physiological disease mechanism that, finally, can plausibly and scientifically explain the symptoms of these and related disorders.

After reading the article, no one can claim that there is no medical explanation for the alleged “impossible” symptoms of FM/CFS.

„Extinction neurons“ in the brain are a common point of attack for different types of stressors

In the brain, there exists a class of neurons, the so-called interneurons. Interneurons bear this name because they only form very short nerve connections to neighboring neurons. In contrast, other neuron types can form connections up to 1 m long.

The main function of extinction memories is therefore to block, or control, other memories.

Extinction memories and the various kinds of memories controlled by them have several crucial properties:

  • Many memories, in particular aversive ones, are inseparably associated with physiological reactions. For example the memory Pavlov’s dog developed to the ringing bell and the simultaneously presented food is inseparably associated with increased saliva production.
  • Most importantly, in order to block memories, extinction neurons constantly send inhibitory (blocking) signals to neurons that carry those memories. Neurons carrying such memories are so-called principal neurons (PNs). Extinction neurons need to send permanently inhibitory signals to principal neurons, because unfortunately nature constructed principal neurons in a way that they get immediately and continuously active, when not receiving inhibitory signals.
  • Aversive memories memories develop during all kinds of negative experiences, including the many physically and emotionally painful experiences made during childhood, and are all bestowed with extinction memories. Time by itself is a kind of extinction procedure.
  • Interestingly, aversive memories also include a type of brain-internal immune memories, which are crucial to understand the development of CFS, see below.

And these symptoms would not go away until the extinction neurons would restart to work.

That means, from the point of time on these extinction neurons ceased functioning, your normal life would just be over. You would need to stop working, and you would ceaselessly bother doctors with complains about your symptoms.

… exactly, dysfunctioning of extinction neurons could theoretically be an explanation for the FSS, like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

But can it also be a real and scientifically provable explanation?

  • Is there scientific proof that dysfunctioning of extinction neurons really cause symptoms?
  • If yes, are these symptoms similar to those of the FSS, thus could explain the FSS, including fibromyalgia and CFS.

Using state-of-the-art optogenetic methods, they were able to experimentally deactivate exactly those extinction neurons in mice that were responsible for inhibiting a certain fear memory.

Imagine what this means. This is exactly the previously unthinkable experiment that is necessary to check whether a dysfunction of extinction neurons really causes symptoms.

The mice in which the extinction neurons were deactivated developed a strong anxiety response in the form of a freezing reaction, although they were not exposed to any anxiety stimulus and were calm in their normal environment.

This research result clearly shows that the lack of activation of extinction neurons, for example triggered by infections, toxins, extreme or prolonged stress, can cause physical and mental symptoms.

References

  1. Courtin, J., Chaudun, F., Rozeske, R. R., Karalis, N., Gonzalez-Campo, C., Wurtz, H., … Herry, C. (2013). Prefrontal parvalbumin interneurons shape neuronal activity to drive fear expression. Nature, 505(7481), 92–96. doi: 10.1038/nature12755
  2. Kann, O. (2016). The interneuron energy hypothesis: Implications for brain disease. Neurobiology of Disease, 90, 75–85. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2015.08.005
  3. Kann, O., Papageorgiou, I. E., & Draguhn, A. (2014). Highly Energized Inhibitory Interneurons are a Central Element for Information Processing in Cortical Networks. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 34(8), 1270–1282. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2014.10
  4. Optogenetics. (2019, August 8). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics

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Rudger Kanding

Rudger Kanding

German computer scientist. Profound knowledge in neuroscience. Writing about the science of aging, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and similar themes.