the enteric nervous system (nerve plexus that innervates mainly the small and large intestines), considered only a short time ago a series of relay ganglia and fibers, have recently taken the dignity of a second brain. Until now it was thought that the enteric nervous system regulates functions which absorption of food substances, the secretion of digestive hormones, the flow of blood and lymph, and peristalsis, through which food passes and down along the digestive tract.
descriptive treats many other functions currently classified as "intelligent process" mediated by thirty different types of neurotransmitters (substances that carry information between nerve cells).
paraphrase Prof. Umberto Solimene in the preface of the book "The Second Brain" by Gershon MD: "in the history of modern medicine, the intestine has long been considered a peripheral structure of the body, appointed to perform functions, if not insignificant, certainly minor compared to the most noble activities of other organs such as brain and heart .. The root of this bias is found in the ancient Platonic idea of \u200b\u200bthe body seen as consisting of the soma - the inert body of the dead - revived by the psyche - the soul - that gives life and intelligence at all. "
At the end of the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century, scientists will bring to the fore the concept and the "gut" will begin to play an important role to reach the hypothetical second function of the brain.
Bayliss and Starling were the first to isolate a loop of intestine in anesthetized animals and studied the effects of stimulation of the intestine from the inside of its cavity.
In their experiments the gut responded with a stereotypical behavior: whenever there is increased enough the pressure inside it showed muscle movements that had the effect of pushing content in descending wave, with contraction and relaxation in a mountain valley, that was called "law of the intestine.
created astonishment in the fact that scientists was that, despite having cut all the nerves in the limbs that is coming to the organs, only the latter still had the reflex to external stimulation.
was later a German scientist, Trendelenburg, who renamed it "peristaltic reflex" as remade the same experiment by adding the complete isolation of the organic content of guinea pigs.
Trendelenburg intestines hanging on a support tube, a test tube containing a nutrient solution hot, called "temperature-controlled organ bath, which he obtained supplies of oxygen. When he blew through the J-shaped tube, the gut said to breath just as it did in Bayliss and Starling, only this time the animal was no longer intact. This made
assume that there is a real "nervous mechanism local "independent from the brain and spinal cord.
From here began the work of thirty neurobiologist Michael D. Gershon, who tried to develop this independence of the intestine, was the sensational discovery that is the main neurotransmitter serotonin .
It seems that more than 90% of serotonin available in a human body is produced from its enteric nervous system.
It now believes that serotonin plays inhibitory functions in the body, it is important for the regulation of sleep / wake, in the mechanisms of attentional activation in the perception of pain in thermoregulation.
serotonin receptors are present in the gland pineal in the reticular system (control of activation) in spinal cord (motor), hippocampus (memory, among other things), hypothalamus (regulating sleep-wake cycle and temperature) in the cerebral cortex (most of the so-called "higher functions": the language, emotional control, sensory maps and much more) and basal ganglia (which are assigned various functions, including the motor control: their damage causes diseases such as Parkinson's or Korea Huntington).
In addition, since the 50s of last century, is placed a very close relationship between serotonin and serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. In 1958, in fact, it turns out that a drug, the Ipronazide, used against tuberculosis, it actually has positive effects as an antidepressant, because it would block the degeneration of serotonin.
Hence the theory is still in vogue that depression is caused by a malfunction of serotonin.
Serotonin, which allows us to counter the depression, is the same substance that allows the intestine to make the peristaltic movement.
It was possible, through modern means, to mark the preganglionic nerve fibers of the vagus nerve to establish what kind of relationship is there between the first and second brain.
About two thousand fibers were identified at the point where the Vagus nerve enters the abdomen, while you can not count the hundreds of millions of neurons in the small intestine, assuming the many hundreds of millions of nerve fibers to produce intrinsic neurons communicate with each other. It is therefore enough evidence of the capacity of the system of self-Enteric neurons, which in recent years has also included the study of gallbladder and pancreas organs innervated not only as the first, but also by the second brain.
This means that the CNS in the stomach is still important and takes the form of commands sent from the vagus nerve, which implements the provisions of the brain.
From the mouth up to half the orders coming from the esophagus including the function of opening and closing of the pyloric sphincter, but the deployment process (digestion, absorption, and peristaltic reflex) is directed by the enteric nervous system.
The duodenum, for example, although it can be sent to the pancreas (entero-pancreatic neurons) hormonal signals to activate enzymes and alkaline juice necessary to cope with gastric acid, the action of hormones is relatively slow. They must find the path to the bloodstream and then be pumped from the pancreas, where they must leave the blood vessels and reach the cells to be stimulated.
In contrast, the nerves act quickly, using the nerve to place the action of hormones or assisting hormones and intestines can get exactly what they need when they need it.
hormones themselves, traveling slowly, may act as reserves for the nerves ensuring that the secretory response occurs and is maintained.
short, a different model of intelligence. A distributed intelligence, distributed, closer to our material needs, perhaps more "basic", with less frills: a resource close to the matter, the nature of what sustains us.
Finally, the relationship between the two brains is real dependence on each other, just the same as Gershon says, "no one can seriously think about whether his mind is concentrated on the toilet" and goes on to say: "in front of a colic, the greatest of thinkers felt the limitations of the empire of reason and helplessness in which, beyond the dreams of reason, man lives."
important to emphasize, therefore, that our second brain to be treated well, a balanced diet along with a relaxed, diaphragmatic breathing. A different focus, even by those who apply manual therapies. The abdomen should be seen not only as a set of beams that wrap around the viscera, but as something very receptive and sensitive that he needs to listen to the truth, which activates a touch of intimate communication, nonverbal, with the "center" of person. (Obviously this is my account)
Fortunately a growing part of the medical world seems to speak to you a new language: a language, which increasingly seems to also be targeted to what until recently was the "unspoken" or "not speakable" diseases, ie to the sphere of emotions, moods, moods that characterize many of the human being and have so much influence on his general well-being.
A language, in short, extending in many directions and that they highlight another part of our body with sensory, perceptual, "thinking" that until recently would have seemed unheard of, is enhanced by a new value in indicating, behind words and unusual words until yesterday, a street where the figure of the test gives a broader concern for the human being, taken as a whole.
Bibliography: "second brain" Gershon, UTET ed.
