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NEUROPEPTIDES, EMOTIONS AND THE BODYMIND NEUROPEPTIDES, EMOTIONS BODYMIND AND THE Dr Candace Pert's research, showing the action of neuropeptides and their receptors in storing emotions and memories, helps explain the therapeutic value of various forms of bodywork. oshe Feldenkrais was a genius way ahead of his time when he wrote in 1964: "My contention is that the unity of mind and body is an objective reality, that they are not entities related to each other in one fashion or another, but an inseparable whole while functioning. To put the point more clearly I con- tend that a brain without motor functions could not think, or at least that the continuity of mental functions is assured by corresponding motor functions." Feldenkrais went on to say that we have no sensation of the inner workings of the cen- tral nervous system, but feel their manifestation only as far as sensations from the body provoke our awareness. This is the state of consciousness! He concluded that "...the state of the [cerebral] cortex is directly and legibly visible on the periphery through the attitude, posture and muscular configuration, which are all connected. Any change in the nervous system translates itself clearly through a change of attitude, posture and muscular configuration. They are not two states, but two aspects of the same state." This hypothetical stance taken by Feldenkrais—that the mind and body are one—was substantiated by the practical work he had been exploring for 30 years to assist people to move more easily. It was shared by a pioneering group of thinker-explorers of the 20th century—among them F. Matthias Alexander, Ida Rolf, Gerda Alexander and Elsa Gindler—who were interested in finding practical ways of furthering human development. However, the most significant breakthrough in our scientific understanding of the body- mind did not come until the early 1970s, when Dr Candace Pert discovered and measured the opiate receptor and thus launched her career as a distinguished bench scientist. Before that, a receptor was mostly an idea: a hypothetical site believed to be located in the cells of all living things. The scientists who most needed to believe in receptors were pharma- cologists, because it was the only way they knew to explain the action of drugs. Since her first discovery, Dr Pert and her colleagues have gone on to specify, measure and map a wide variety of molecules (receptors) embedded in the membranes of neurons and other cells in the body (e.g., muscle, lung, gut, glandular and immune system cells), whose functions are different from other receptors in cell membranes. When all are dis- covered, Pert expects there will be around 300 neuropeptides, all with different actions on individual cells and on overall behaviour. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the scientists have discovered a "second nervous system", equally as important as the first. Neuroscience had long been focused on the concept of the nervous system as an electrical network with neurotransmitters at synapses allowing electrical impulses to pass from neuron to neuron. Dr Pert now says that only about 2% of communication within the brain occurs via synapses and 98% by information molecules such as hormones and neuropeptides, which act over longer distances. The binding of an information molecule (ligand) to a receptor is like a key fitting into a keyhole. Both molecules are vibrating, and there seems to be an attractive force between the receptor and its appropriate ligand (usually a neuropeptide). When the two fit togeth- er, information enters the cell and directs its activities by initiating a cascade of biochemi- cal events. The cell may begin any number of activities, e.g., building new proteins, opening and closing ion channels, or division. Each cell may have millions of receptors on its surface, with hundreds of thousands of the same type. The activity of the cell and its functional relationship with the rest of the body depends on the density of particular receptors on the cell surface and on how many of these contain neuropeptides at a particu- lar time. On a macro scale, these minute physiological phenomena at the cellular level can translate into large changes in behaviour, physical activity and even mood. Science Communication Services Canberra, ACT Australia NEXUS = 39 by Leigh Lehane © 2002 DECEMBER 2002 — JANUARY 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com