Nociceptive musings6

"Hi there - me again, C - 

"I found the coolest family genealogy picture ever, and thought I'd share it:

Cell differentiation 

"See at the bottom right corner? That's my GreenDad down there! 

Are the nervous system and the immune system the 'same thing'?

"Now, I want to turn your attention to something Mick Thacker said*: 

"Due to our need to compartmentalise thinking and establish isolated fields of study (particularly in medicine to allow for specialisms) we have overlooked the critical synergy between the immune and nervous systems and more importantly that the nervous system and immune system are one and the same."

"Back in the diagram, see the word "haemopoiesis" circled? With "immune cells" beside it? That's where micro glia come from, and those mast cells, and leukocytes, and macrophages.  I wanted to show you where they come from - they're blood cells. I don't agree that we are the "one and the same." 
" I don't agree with that at all.

"Those are the cells whose excretions/secretions sensitize me. 

"We might have been from the same distant ancestor, a fertilized egg cell, but we sure grew up different, and now we have a somewhat bitter relationship, sort of like lions and hyenas have with each other. Lions and hyenas might both be mammals, but are not the SAME mammal - they don't like each other, annoy each other, kill each others' cubs when they get the chance - yet both help maintain the overall ecosystem. 

"The way immune cells and we C's provoke each other, in a balance, within very narrow boundaries, keeps things lively and moving and tugging at the molecular protein level in a biochemical dance that helps keep everything stirred up, and helps maintain  'life' of the whole organism. MIRight? 

"And listen, if and when there isn't enough blood flow to cart away all the stuff I make - myself -  I can sensitize myself, too!" 


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1. *Nails in the coffin   -- Body in Mind blogpost by Mick Thacker, May 2, 2011

2.  Basbaum AI, Bautista DM, Scherrer G, Julius D; Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Pain  Cell Volume 139, Issue 2, 16 October 2009, Pages 267–284 open access [Pssst! try the word "Nociception" - it won't "hurt" you - haha! Yours truly, C]