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ORGAN TRANSPLANTS AND CELLULAR MEMORIES ORGAN TRANSPLANTS AND CELLULAR MEMORIES According to this study of patients who have received transplanted organs, particularly hearts, it is not uncommon for memories, behaviours, preferences and habits associated with the donor to be transferred to the recipient. If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black...it is enough if you prove one single crow to be white. We tam Tamas MT INTRODUCTION t is generally assumed that learning involves primarily the nervous system and secon- darily the immune system. Hence, patients receiving peripheral organ transplants should not experience personality changes that parallel the personalities of donors they have never met. When personality changes have been observed following trans- plants, the kinds of explanations entertained include effects of the immunosuppressant drugs, psychosocial stress, and pre-existing psychopathology of the recipients.'* However, living systems theory explicitly posits that all living cells possess "memory" and "decider" functional subsystems within them.* Moreover, the recent integration of systems theory with the concept of energy (termed dynamical energy systems theory) pro- vides compelling logic that leads to the prediction that all dynamical systems store infor- mation and energy to various degrees.*’ The systemic memory mechanism provides a plausible explanation for the evolution of emergent (novel) systemic properties through recurrent feedback interactions (i.e., the nonlinear circulation of information and energy that reflects the ongoing interactions of the components in a complex, dynamic network). Recurrent feedback loops exist in all atomic, molecular and cellular systems. Hence, evidence for atomic systemic memory, molecular systemic memory and cellular systemic memory should be found in these systems. The systemic memory mechanism has been applied to a variety of controversial and seemingly anomalous observations in complementary and alternative medicine, including homoeopathy.* It also makes new predictions. One prediction is that sensitive recipients of transplanted organs can experience aspects of the donor's personal history stored in the transplanted tissues. In 1997, a book titled A Change of Heart was published that described the apparent per- sonality changes experienced by Claire Sylvia.’ Sylvia received a heart and lung trans- plant at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1988. She reported noticing that various attitudes, habits and tastes changed following her surgery. She had inexplicable cravings for foods she had previously disliked. For example, though she was a health-conscious dancer and choreographer, upon leaving the hospital she had an uncontrollable urge to go to a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and order chicken nuggets, a food she never ate. Sylvia found herself drawn toward cool colours and no longer dressed in the bright reds and oranges she used to prefer. She began behaving in an aggressive and impetuous manner that was uncharacteristic of her but turned out to be similar to the personality of her donor. Interestingly, uneaten Kentucky Fried Chicken nuggets were found in the jacket of the young man (her donor) when he was killed. Opinions about the plausibility of cellular memory were sought by William Novak, the co-author of the book. Pearsall proposed that the immunosuppressant drugs could con- ceivably lower the threshold for patients to potentially register cellular memories stored in the transplanted organs (cited in 9, extended in 10). Schwartz and Russek proposed that the rejection process might not only reflect the rejection of the material comprising the cells but also the systemic information and energy stored within the cells as well (cited in 9, extended in 7, 8). by Paul Pearsall, PhD Gary E. Schwartz, PhD Linda G. Russek, PhD © 2002 Email: gschwart@u.arizona.edu by Paul Pearsall, PhD Gary E. Schwartz, PhD Linda G. Russek, PhD © 2002 APRIL — MAY 2005 NEXUS + 27 — William James, MD Email: gschwart@u.arizona.edu www.nexusmagazine.com