The Human Brain and Its Afflictions

Introduction

  The bibliography gives a broad background on both mental health issues and neurology issues. It also gives a background on normal brain functioning and brain chemistry. Also there are some political issues involving drugs, and these political issues are also discussed in the political articles. The drug companies have tremendous power. They have massive amounts of money, and they use this to promote their drugs and their interests.

A Toxic Factor in Schizophrenia

"In 1962 A. J. Friedhoff and I isolated a toxic methylated derivative of dopamine, the precursor of norepinephrine, from urine of schizophrenic patients (1). This substance had a structure similar to the hallucinogen mescaline and had a depressant effect on the central nervous system." Elnora van Winkle (2000)

  Her reference 1 is my 7 in my bibliography. Unfortunately both van Winkle and Friedhoff are now deceased.

"Unequivocal evidence for toxicosis in mental illness is found in the pathology of the human brain." van Winkle (2000)

Psychiatric Drugs

"The use of iproniazid has been linked to relapses in schizophrenia, which is further evidence that toxicosis results in symptoms, in this case intensified by the administration of a drug." van Winkle (2000)

PKU

  This disease involves both mental illness and mental retardation. It is an inborn error of metabolism discovered by Folling of Norway. In this disease the amino acid phenylalanine accumulates in the brain due to the shortage of an enzyme that metabolizes it to tyrosine. This also results in a shortage of tyrosine. The treatment, which must be followed for life, is a diet restricted in phenylalanine. The patient can take tyrosine supplements. This disease is one of several diseases that inspired Linus Pauling to invent "orthomolecular" psychiatry in 1968. He invented the name "orthomolecular", but Hoffer & Osmond had made similar speculations previously.

  Foods high in phenylalanine, which must be avoided on the diet, are shown below: 

Almonds, avocado, bananas, beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, cheese, corn, cottage cheese, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, lima beans, meat, nuts, ovalbumin, peanuts, pickled herring, pumpkin seeds, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, whey, whole grains.

Hyperargininemia

  This is a similar inborn error of metabolism except that the enzyme that metabolizes arginine is faulty. In this disease excess arginine poisons the brain. Arginine is found in the following foods:

Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, carob, caseinate, chocolate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, oatmeal, popcorn, raisins, seafood, seeds, sesame seeds, soy, sunflower seeds, whey, whole grains.

  A diet low in these foods is used to treat hyperargininemia. Neurological symptoms and psychiatric symtoms can be seen.

Tryptophan

  There is a variation of PKU involving biopterin deficiency. In this disease both phenylalanine and tryptophan accumulate. Tryptophan is in the following foods:

Bananas, beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, cottage cheese, dairy products, dates, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, milk, nuts, peanuts, protein (hydrolysis), seafood, seeds, soy, turkey, whey, whole grains.

  My own theory is that tryptophan floods the brain in the various forms of mental illness. I favor a low tryptophan diet to treat mental illness. This may also happen in Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's chorea, which have both psychiatric symptoms and neurological symptoms.

Conclusions

  A lot of research still needs to be done. The human brain is very complex, and the brain diseases are difficult to treat. In Parkinson's disease L-DOPA, which is similar to an amino acid, is used as a treatment. However, this has resulted in psychiatric side effects. L-DOPA is the direct precursor of dopamine. This suggests the possible involvement of dopamine in schizophrenia and possibly other psychiatric diseases. Psychiatric drugs which block dopamine cause Parkinsonian side effects, unfortunately.

  This supports the Friedhoff/van Winkle theory of a toxic metabolite of dopamine causing schizophrenia. I have submitted this article to "Man Among Men" as a tribute to Dr. Arnold Friedhoff. Unfortunately he is deceased. I am also interested in Dr. Parkinson, but I have been unable to find an image of him. Photography appears to not yet been invented in his time, and it appears that nobody ever painted a portrait of him. Parkinson's disease was named after him, but he called it "the shaking palsy".

Bibliography

1. www.associatedcontent.com/article/868053/medical_mimics_of_schizophrenia.html

2. www.associatedcontent.com/article/851313/the_american_presidential_election.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/846327/is_barack_obama_really_the_change_this.html
4. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/833167/schizophrenia_is_caused_by_a_mescalinelike.html
5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/830913/depression_a_scientific_approach_.html

6. The toxic mind: the biology of mental illness and violence. Medical Hypotheses 2000; 55(4): 356-368
E. Van Winkle

7. Friedhoff AJ, Van Winkle E. Isolation and characterization of a compound from the urine of schizophrenics. Nature 1962; 194: 897-898.

8. Cooper JR, Bloom FE, Roth RH. The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

9. Schweitzer JW, Friedhoff AJ. The metabolism of alpha-14C-3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine. Biochem Pharmac 1966; 15: 2097-2103.