Exploring the Gut-Brain Connection and Photosensitivity

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Agreed, I also need to review, including the light induced (checkerboard) local brain pH change. To the contrary, recall that carbon dioxide halts seizure because it raises acidity suggesting the brain is too alkaline. But maybe that's more about lowering serotonin where high serotonin is known to cause seizure.

Here's another study showing inverse relationship where the body is in a state of low oxygen acidosis causing brain alkalosis leading to seizure in newborns:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3501974/

"The mechanisms underlying birth asphyxia seizures are unknown."
Since modern science still believes the fetal gastrointestinal tract is sterile without any evidence whatsoever, it's no wonder the acidosis is not associated with microbial imbalance.

Why the inverse relationship?
"It is not known how post-asphyxia brain alkalosis is caused."
"Thus, the rise in both extracellular and intracellular pH recorded in the brain implies a net loss of acid equivalents and is attributable to net extrusion of acid across the blood–brain barrier."

I think the real question is what is the blood-brain barrier such that it extrudes acid? What (or who!) is soaking-up the carbon dioxide leading to alkalosis and seizure? I don't believe the brain is a sterile environment, nor was it ever meant to be sterile, but is reliant on balanced flora just like the gut. There's only one study proving brain flora exists where most microbes were found to be alphaproteobacteria located in the blood-brain barrier (glial cells/white matter). High level scientists fearing the entire concept of brain flora refuse to give the study credibility. Perhaps microbes are the most important part of the blood-brain barrier, but out of balance, they absorb too much carbon dioxide:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/20...y-your-head/gjohGUkh4tEc62b33gVCYJ/story.html

It even seems possible fetal brain development relies on microbial omega-3 fatty acid biosynthesis normally considered of maternal origin. First the fetal gut develops. Then in the third trimester, the brain triples in weight.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0020146

Alphaproteobacteria are phototropic, meaning they respond to light. This is why their genes are used in the new science of optogenetics which uses light to control the brain. In fact, the entire science is based on this type of bacteria while pioneers of the science likely believe the brain is sterile.
 
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So, Karen, why would a flashing checkerboard cause a local pH change in the brain raising acid? Where did the carbon dioxide come from? Here's the study you posted: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/01/1205902109

Might the light have affected microbes to release CO2? It happens a lot on Earth, so much that it's implicated as significant source of CO2 speeding global warming:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=melting-tundra-releases-carbon-dioxide-quickly

Microbes both absorb and then compound CO2, releasing it. Here's an illustration of how they can turn it into fuel:
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-researchers-engineer-bacteria-149726.aspx

This fuel, isobutryaldehyde, is a known cause of seizure:
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+614
 
Or, is the main factor the release of carbon dioxide from our own cells via mitochondrial respiration? Mitochondria are thought to have once been phototrophic or proteobacteria, the endosymbiotic theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosymbiotic_theory

Light is known to affect mitochondria in the retina and beyond:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18315568
www.jbc.org/content/236/1/236.full.pdf
pcp.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/6/1032.full.pdf
Blue light affects mitochondria per above study: http://www.elvex.com/facts11.htm
UVA and blue light damaging: http://www.tsbvi.edu/seehear/fall99/ultraviolet.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22673012
UVB damage to cornea via mitochondrial dysfunction: www.iovs.org/content/38/3/620.full.pdf

But what's still not recognized is the effect of intracellular organisms doing the backstroke in cytosol, the fluid of our cells, and how they may affect the "uncoupling" leading to activation or inactivation of mitochondrial respiration.
diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/49/2/143.full.pdf

How interesting that coconut oil was found to "uncouple" mitochondria resulting in increased respiration of calming carbon dioxide. Might it be due to the lauric acid entering cells, disabling intracellular organisms? Is this how coconut oil apparently halts Alzheimer's in early stages where lauric acid tags along with MCTs crossing blood-brain barrier into white matter, allowing for the fueling of mitochondria to detox the brain?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2943879
 
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017646/
5% CO2 is a potent, fast acting inhalation anticonvulsant (2011)

This study states: "The proposed effect of acidosis on seizure termination is likely to involve adenosine, levels of which were shown to increase upon decreases in pH during hyperexcitability . . . "

Adenosine is known to activate macrophage activity as well as ameliorate type 1 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body is not producing enough insulin. Contrary to popular belief, insulin is produced throughout the body, not just by the pancreas. Bacteria are known to stimulate insulin release from epithelial cells in the intestines. Microbes may be doing the same in the brain (where white matter meets the blood-brain barrier?) to a point of hypoglycemia leading to convulsion. Low insulin in the brain is called type 3 diabetes associated with Alzheimer's.
 
OK, a lot to work through here, but with regard to the checkerboard lights and increased ph (in the orbital region) -- it's possible that CO2 might be released from cells -- perhaps bacterial cells. However, CO2 is not the only thing that can create acidity in the brain.

I think it would be interesting to do this test with the light and brain acidity on someone with photosensitive epilepsy (they use the strobe lights to try to cause a seizure in an EEG) -- to see what happens. Presumably, the people used in the studies were not epileptics.
 
Thanks so much, Karen, for joining me on this lengthy exploration and making sense of it all with an open mind. I would not have carried on without you here.

The protective aspect of carbon dioxide has gained a lot of steam in recent years. Lactic acid may also raise acidity in the brain, perhaps of microbial source. I wonder how much CO2 and lactic acid of microbial source play a role in the brain. Lactic acid is said to oppose CO2, meaning when CO2 is low, lactic acid is produced and causes damage. This lowering of CO2 is said to cause seizure while leading to release of serotonin and histamine causing inflammation. What doesn't appear commonly known is how CO2 lowers serotonin. Is serotonin a cause of seizure? CO2 is also said protective from ammonia.

I'm thinking CO2 from mitochondrial respiration is the key to halting seizure, but mitochondria are somehow hampered, i.e., by intracellular organisms which are also affected by light. There's a lot to learn about how mitochondrial respiration (CO2 production) is affected by light:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10043-003-0440-x#
http://www.dovepress.com/low-level-light-therapy-of-the-eye-and-brain-peer-reviewed-article-EB
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...T+(05:00-07:00+EDT)+for+essential+maintenance
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1860161/

Blue light is both stimulating and damaging:
http://realdoctorstu.com/2011/05/23...ve-a-brain-boost-but-is-a-better-than-coffee/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/removing-blue-light-night-10553/

Blue light and microbial genes damage retina:
http://www.iovs.org/content/42/2/497.long
 
Thank you Keith! I need some more info here. The lactic acid issue/conundrum. I only learned that that acid is a by product of muscle use. And that it later becomes Uric acid (which also is related to blood ph levels. Uric acid and protein levels in diet raise acid levels in blood when increased in diet. Hence reducing the calcium levels of bones (as the body must use that stored calcium to reduce acid levels in blood. Would that suggest that adequate calcium could reduce seizure activity? And where does the idea of 'emulsifiers' in blood/cell and blood-brain barrier crossing and neurotransmitters stimulate seizure activity? My theory is that my seizures are directly related to the cumulative effects of the neurotransmitter specific to the brain and known as a memory enhancer, Phosphatidylcholines in LECITHIN. I have been watching closely for more than two decades and seen notable relationships between my seizures and that lecithin in diet. Docs all say "No, no studies prove that." Yet I am having the seizures and watching the diet closely and see the effects.
To say nothing of the effects of fungus/yeast in the blood which is all too commonly over abundant (ie candida) and how that changes the ph levels of the blood. ??
 
Hi Janus, thanks for chiming-in. What seems clear is the brain's mechanism for halting seizure is to raise acid level (lower pH). But there may be many types of triggers for seizure including an alkaline brain, light, toxins, intestinal nerve irritation, glutamate receptors in gut and brain, etc . . . regarding lecithin, I thought that was supposed to be helpful, but I suppose it may also act as conduit, I'd have to research it again as it's been a while . . .

How this mechanism of carbon dioxide halting seizure (known for 80 years!!) relates to stopping seizure from ever happening for some people may be about mitochondrial health. I don't believe much is known about intracellular organisms affecting mitochondria. If I were epileptic, I would concentrate on alkalizing my body by cleansing the gut. An alkalizing diet wouldn't include meat for a while, but lots of greens. There's a lot about how to do it on the internet. This would serve to raise stomach acid and balance brain pH. It may also increase mitochondrial respiration by balancing intracellular organisms so the body can make adequate levels of carbon dioxide quickly. I'd also take 2-6 tablespoons daily of extra virgin coconut oil with hope the lauric acid balances intracellular organisms, allowing mitochondria to do their job detoxing the brain. I'd also use OptiMSM to help cleanse cells of acidic waste and balance pH. A few important supplements: selenium, zinc picolinate, boron. And I'm a recent believer in grapefruit seed extract as antimicrobial and pH balancer. I'd find a good doctor able to order a molecular DNA microarray stool test and interpret the results properly to treat accordingly if gut dysbiosis is present, i.e., overgrown clostridium.

I'm far from expert, but believe in sharing what I know for whatever it's worth. By the way, calcium, as I understand it, needs to be intracellular calcium reliant on vitamin D levels (that's where zinc and boron help). Simply taking a calcium supplement may be counterproductive. Intracellular calcium activates the immune system (macrophage activity) to balance flora.
 
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YES i know that that calcium info is true. I am so interested in your writing And myself, always believed that the Lecithin additive idea to be extremely beneficial (ie myalin sheeth) and anchoring erratic neuro spasticity . Until I started giving myself seizures every day by high doses of 99% phosphatidyl choline Lecithin. So the mystery engenders research cravings. Thanks again.
 
Have you ever tested hyaluronic acid? It has both gut and brain function. If you try it, I think it's best before bed as it makes people sleepy. I wonder if it helps prevent overnight seizure somehow as it seemed to do this well for my dog. I believe I've read lowest pH (highest acid) is early morning hours. Also, histamine is highest at that time. From what I've read, a lot of people have seizure in very early morning hours.

Hyaluronic acid is degraded by microbial enzymes called hyaluronidase (I believe especially fungi). It's the same substance people have injected into knees and to repair/heal surgical wounds. It's what hydrates the entire body; 80% of the fluid in eyes. I've read that its formation in the body is dependent on magnesium. Interestingly, carbon dioxide production by mitochondria is also dependent on magnesium. Still learning about these things . . . magnesium is also said important for pH balance. Maybe that's why a plant-based diet is so helpful as chlorophyll is the same as hemoglobin, but with magnesium as central atom instead of iron. Anyway, I wonder if hyaluronic acid is protective of seizure.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014488663900311
 
Hi, thank you. That sounds really good. Where can i find this Hyaluronic acid ? This all makes sense to me also, because The magnesium effect. I learned from here and other sources that the magnesium supplement helps the seizure activity and depression etc. Taking it also at night time bc it tends to relax you deeply (sleepy?). Thanks again.
PS meditation and creative outbursts make a giant psychic change for the better.
 
Hyaluronic acid is available everywhere. People are even using the kind labeled for horses used extensively in veterinary medicine. It's the same as the kind used by humans. It's also a known component of soils in Japan where people are very long-lived; an amusing Connie Chung Prime Time piece about it here:

I think this is a good formula: http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-hy...844197015801&gclid=CIbUnaS7jrcCFUPc4AodAxQAZA

In recent posts I've been exploring use of MSM to balance pH and recently learned it's also necessary for collagen formation and that collagen is an important part of the brain's electrical system. Gelatin is also related to collagen production. Here's a fascinating page I'm still reading about endogenous light in the brain including collagen as part of our fiber optics:
http://light.simanonok.com/

This theorist, however, does not yet appear to have integrated phototrophic organisms in his construct. I've contacted him with hope to learn and share more . . .

Here are recent articles about collagen being neuroprotective:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210150713.htm
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/63081
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17555727

Back to pH balance and carbon dioxide, yesterday's news shows Earth's CO2 hitting record levels:
http://researchmatters.noaa.gov/news/Pages/CarbonDioxideatMaunaLoareaches400ppm.aspx

Considering how CO2 serves to absorb light and, therefore, heat in our atmosphere, do we also have a Greenhouse Effect in the brain? CO2 is a good thing in the right balance. Is its absorbing capacity the reason the brain naturally produces it to halt seizure?
 
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You guys are bringing up a lot of good thoughts and research, and will jump in when I have time to read it all.
 
Zinc is a crucial enzyme in pH balance as the enzyme responsible for converting CO2 to carbonic acid, carbonic anhydrase, is zinc dependent. This process also works in reverse to make CO2, so zinc is needed in both directions. Microbes also utilize this enzyme. Might this be a factor in human-microbe interaction as well as microbial absorption and respiration of CO2?

Nice general education I'm still reading:
Acid-Base Disturbances and
the Central Nervous System
http://www.cardiologyrounds.org/crus/nephus_0105.pdf

There are respiratory and metabolic acidosis and alkalosis, so four (4) acid-base disorders, each of which can result in seizure. (Table 2 in above paper)


But we know carbon dioxide halts seizure and we also know respiratory alkalosis causes febrile seizure in children. This is the most common type of seizure in children:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21910730

We know the medulla oblongata contains the respiratory center, directly below the hypothalamus. It can sense the pH of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which I believe is correlated with blood pH.
https://www.boundless.com/biology/r...aerates-lungs/regulation-breathing-in-humans/

It's possible to have combined respiratory acidosis and metabolic alkalosis (and vice-versa?). Which one most directly affects brain pH? And is this system affected by "shearing" of acid by the blood-brain barrier discussed earlier?
http://openanesthesia.org/index.php?title=ABG:_Respiratory_acidosis/metabolic_alkalosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22137421
 
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The intersection of insulin, pH and temperature related to seizure, including photosensitive seizure is very complex.

Here again, zinc plays a very important role as it binds insulin molecules in hexamer (six molecules) assembly. This is how the body stores insulin. I believe when insulin is active, the molecules separate (disassociate?).
Zinc's relationship to insulin is more complex than I realized:
http://www.jacn.org/content/17/2/109.full
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6997118

Zinc, Not Insulin, Regulates the Rat Alpha Cell Response to Hypoglycemia in vivo:
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/56/4/1107.full

Diabetes and eye complications are well known while insulin eye drops are tested for absorption.
"Fluctuating vision in response to changing blood glucose levels; vision can change from day-to-day, or from morning to evening"
http://www.visionaware.org/section.aspx?FolderID=6&SectionID=111&DocumentID=6040
"Diabetes Discovery – Via the Eyes"
https://www.vsp.com/diabetes.html

Now here's where things get tricky: the quality of insulin is affected by pH and temperature.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1258777/

This paper continues from the one above detailing how salt concentration affects aggregation of insulin. Another paper is mentioned regarding potassium "favours aggregation even more strongly than sodium chloride." As I understand it, insulin storage and activity are reversible. But a deficiency in certain minerals can leave insulin in its active state causing hypoglycemia. During one of my dog's seizure clusters, I gave her some broth with sea salt and she temporarily came to complete normal, acting like a strong puppy and all of a sudden able to play vigorously with her ball. Were "salt bridges" affecting her electrolytes via the reaggregation of insulin? She did sink back into her cluster, but from then on I began salting her food. One local vet favors potassium bromide over phenobarbital as anticonvulsant. Once I tested an extremely sweet medicine, lactulose, in our dog as allowed by our vet in event she had hepatic encephalopathy where constipation is a part of the problem (predicting seizure). The lactulose sent her into what looked like insulin shock; quite frightening. In my final attempt to cure her about two years later, she was put on a month long course of rifaximin and things were looking very good from a gut standpoint, but she still was photosensitive which may have taken longer to cure before she tragically passed by accident, drowning in our pool after photosensitive seizure. It remains to be known if would have ever fully recovered. Her seizures began at age 4 of gut origin via bordetella vaccination combined with another med and/or infection via eating feral cat poop and/or swimming in a sewage contaminated lake. I spent the next 4 years going through trials trying to cure her where all of the eight (8) vets including a neurologist could treat her only from the neck up, in complete disregard of gut origin. Not one vet was familiar with DNA microarray stool testing in order to help diagnose the problem and treat accordingly.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1197702/

Now here's where infection comes in, perhaps the underlying cause of diabetes (lots of new science is proving this way of thought which is why diabetes is actually an environmental health issue, not just about diet and exercise). We've already discussed how microbial overgrowth is related to acidosis in both bodies and bodies of water. And we've talked about how there may inverse relationship between gut and brain pH where some surmise it's caused by acid "shearing" by the blood-brain barrier leading to alkalosis in the brain. Indeed, we've learned the brain halts seizure by raising acid and that CO2 halts seizure.

The issue is insulin binding to antibodies leaving excess insulin in the system leading to hypoglycemia.

This paper shows insulin binding antibodies dependent on pH (see Fig 4):
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/104122

This paper talks about pyogenic infection in diabetes associated with patients requiring high doses of insulin because any insulin given is first used by the body to bind antibodies instead of used for physiological needs. They also mention a paper regarding an insulin antagonist found in presence of ketosis:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC480511/

Here's a related 2012 study: Successful treatment of type 1 diabetes and seizures with combined ketogenic diet and insulin.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22250030

And here's a lengthy 2007 paper I'm still reading with lots of info about insulin antibodies:
http://edrv.endojournals.org/content/28/6/625.full
 
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Anti-seizure activity of insulin is broad-spectrum, but may not not include dysregulation of the sodium-potassium pump:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8956915
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3207469/

Glucagon prevents and treats hypoglycemia signaled by zinc (study above), but glucagon degrades at alkaline pH:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196978113001460

Alanine stimulates secretion of glucagon, high amounts in gelatin. Glucagon causes the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose, which is released into the bloodstream. But is it also made in the brain just as insulin is made in the brain?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21824260

Glucagon gene expression in vertebrate brain.
http://www.jbc.org/content/263/27/13475.abstract

In gut and perhaps brain, bacterial fatty acids stimulate release of glucagon:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3266401/

Bacteria may control insulin release from epithelial cells in both gut and brain (insulin is not just a product of the pancreas):
http://aem.asm.org/content/74/23/7437.full
 
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Karen, I've discovered what may explain the flashing checkerboard causing brain acidification per the study you posted. This may also be related to light-induced fatigue Hand is talking about:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/01/1205902109

The source of acidification may be lysosomes, organelles of the cell. Perhaps it works in both directions as lysosomes both absorb and release hydrogen ions (protons) responsible for lysosomal acidification affected by light.

Nice illustration here:
http://jgp.rupress.org/content/137/4/385.full

This study looks fascinating:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...ionid=BF86D55B78B9662569A22944E81B5C5F.d03t02

What intracellular organisms may suppress lysosomal acidification? Fungi and/or cyanobacteria degrading hydrogen (via microbial hydrogenase)?
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/21/7817.long
 
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Keith, that is fascinating. Thank you. However; i am curious about the lack of info on shiny aluminum hats.???????? Aluminum hats (shiny side out of course) actually attracts radiation and random psychic phenomena .. WOW.
 
My daughter Samantha has been diagnosed with jeavons syndrome which seems to be what you are describing
 
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