Autism, The Brain Stem, Glial Cells, and Myelination
Disclaimer: I am not a biochemist, nor do I have a degree in biochemistry. However, I do enjoy researching subjects that I feel are important to understand and over the past 20 years, I have drilled down a lot on the research that is available for all of us to learn from, in addition to reading books and references on subjects pertaining to biochemistry and orthomolecular nutrition.
In particular, I have learned a lot about the different pathways to neurotransmission, and this often leads to learning about toxic metals and their influences on the brain, and in particular, neurodegenerative disorders. Metals in our atmosphere and environment are increasingly being associated with various neurodegenerative disorders like ADHD, Autism, OCD, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and many others. Each of these are increasingly being linked to various metal toxicities in our environment.
For example, Autism Spectrum Disorder has been linked to mercury, cadmium, and increasingly more, aluminum. In learning more about autism, and understanding the variety of symptoms associated with it from different clinics and sites that help children and adults with the disorder, I have comprised a list of the symptoms associated with autism. Some of these systems are more common than others, although, I am just trying to understand what areas of the brain become dysfunctional to produce the symptoms. I came up with a list of 42 symptoms, and some of these might overlap. As I was going over the symptoms, I began to realize that it appears that a majority of the symptoms of autism appear to stem from dysfunction that occurs in the brain stem and the thalamus in particular.
Here is a diagram of the brain stem and the thalamus and hypothalamus.
For example, the midbrain retains the tectum, which discriminates sensory signals and rapid decisions required for immediate behavioral reactions, and when it is dysfunctional, can produce head bobbing, tremors, and visual impairment, to name a few. Head bobbing and vision problems occur in autism. Audio reflexes reside in the tectum, and this is also a problem in individuals with autism. Tegmentum is another region of the midbrain(part of brain stem), and dysfunction in the tegmentum, can result in mania, and serious behavioral problems, which is also part of the symptoms in autism. Mania has different forms such as pacing around in a room, impulsivity, aggression, and psycho motor agitation like pulling at clothes or fidgeting.
The midbrain part of the brain stem also processes eye movements, pain signals, and controls alertness and arousal. Alertness, arousal, and pain sensation are involved in symptoms of people that are autistic. In autism, they can have imbalance in gate, walking, running, and these movements are regulated in the midbrain region.
In autism, emotions and mood become a problem in their behaviors, and the Thalamus, just above the brain stem, processes emotions and mood to other brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and deep limbic system. In autism, there can be sensitization issues with certain tastes, smells, sounds, and textures, and this sensory processing occurs in the thalamus.
I am giving these examples to show people how I am deducting what regions of the brain stem and thalamus I am attributing autistic symptoms to. If I was to put down each of the 42 characteristic traits of autism, then this write would be too long to hold people’s interest. After evaluating the traits of autistic behaviors, the midbrain appears to be related to a majority of autistic symptoms. Clearly, the pons, medulla oblongata, and thalamus are significantly implicated as well.
Here is a flow chart representing a summary.
I created a percentage summary of the relations of autism symptoms to the brain stem regions that are associated to them. Here is that summary:
Generalized Breakdown of Autism and Brain Stem Regions/Thalamus
These regions are largely comprised of neurons and glial cells. Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Acetylcholine, Serotonin, Glutamate, Glycine, and GABA are most prevalent neurotransmitters in these regions, and it varies depending upon the region of the brain stem and thalamus. Oligodendrocytes, microglia, and astrocytes are the most common types of glial cells in the brain stem and thalamus.
The glial cells are critical for the development of neurons and their protection, cell signaling, removing toxins and waste, dead cell removal, the filtering in our blood brain barrier, brain tissue integrity, cerebral spinal fluid, myelination, and repair functions in our brains. The neurons have connections to the various lobes of the brain, and the cell signaling, or communication signaling between the glial cells and neurons is vital. Various types of toxic metals can cause serious damage to neurons and glial cells, especially in how they can deplete magnesium, zinc, carnosine, and histidine. The homeostasis of histamine, histidine, carnosine, zinc, tyrosine kinases, calcium, glutamate and the other neurotransmitters plays critical roles in the health of our brains and bodies. The glial cells and neurons are susceptible to what is in our atmosphere and biosphere, work places, and homes. We need to be aware of this, as our breathable atmosphere ranges between 6 to 10 miles in height, which means that you can travel on the freeway for less than 10 minutes, and you have covered the height of our troposphere.
I am providing some picture files of the different types of glial cells and their associated functions.
Astrocytes, Ependymal, Microglia, and Radial Glial Cells
Satellite, Oligodendrocytes, Enteric, and Schwann Glial Cells
The Oligodendrocytes and Schwann Glial cells are very involved in Myelination and brain tissue repair. Mercury, aluminum, cadmium, can produce damage in these brain regions and that is why we are seeing links to them in autism. Histidine and especially, Carnosine, and very important to learn more about as they are excellent metal chelators and have an absolute enormity of neuroprotection functions associated with them. They can also detoxify cadmium, lead, mercury, as well as other metals. Zinc and magnesium are also very important to learn about in understanding autism. Zinc is essential in ALL of the above mentioned glial cells in the picture files above.
In addition to essential fatty acids, in particular, there are many important ingredients involved in myelination, and generally speaking, they are mainly cholesterol, vitamins, lipids, and proteins. Some of the most important are as follows: Phosphorous, Cholesterol, Phosphatidylcholine, Phosphatidylserine, Phosphatidylinositol, Phosphatidylethanolamine, Methionine, Tryptophan, Thiamine, Zinc, Vitamin B12, Pyridoxal 5 Phosphate, Niacin, Riboflavin, Choline, Pantothenic Acid, Inositol (signaling), Magnesium, Arginine, Serine, Threonine, Lecithin, Carnosine, Galactocerebroside, Sulfatide, Phosphorus, Glycolipids, Sphingomyelin, and many others.
Everyday, in our society, we are spending a majority of our time, understanding one another from the outside in through superficial impressionism and attention seeking, and completely ignore ourselves from the inside out, which is most important. The rise in prevalence rates of neurodegenerative disorders are a very important biomarker of the health of our brains, the central nervous system, our immune systems, gut microbiome, and our overall health. Unfortunately, this involves the most effort to learn and understand, and maybe because we are comprised of so much water and electrical impulses, that we take the path of least resistance, just like water, and just like electricity. The newest part of our brains, the prefrontal cortex, changes that paradigm and provides us with executive functionality on numerous levels, if we assert ourselves fluidly. In autism, people often blame themselves for their behaviors, which they are ultimately responsible for, but we have not done enough to understand why the behavior is the way that it is. The research is out there, but we don't have enough people paying attention to it. Cell signaling plays a very important role in all of this as autism traits clearly demonstrate in social cues not being recognized and motor control problems. This is where zinc, magnesium, carnosine, and histidine, play very important roles as research is showing us. The prefrontal cortex is the newest part of our brain and it is not fully myelinated until around age 25. This makes the integrity of the myelination process very important for us to understand. The thalamus and midbrain are important in sending our sensory signals to the temporal lobes and prefrontal cortex for evaluation. Cadmium, mercury, and increasingly more, aluminum, are disrupting this signaling and we need to be looking more at out atmospheric environment, cookware and personal environments at home, our work places and nutrition. Our breathable atmosphere is between 6 and 10 miles high. That is it, and we can drive on our local freeway for less than ten minutes, and we have reached the height of our troposphere. I hope this compilation of information is helpful to you. Thank you for the taking the time to read this.