Scientists from America and Western Europe have established a relationship between the system of biological structures in the body and the brain. The experiment was conducted on mice artificially exposed to stress to identify changes in the body. During the experiment, it turned out that psychological stress can aggravate gastrointestinal problems in those who already have intestinal problems. All data were published in an article in the peer-reviewed scientific journal on biology Cell.
Progress of the study
During the experiment, rodents were placed in a small laboratory test tube and given chemicals that caused physiological reactions in order to produce symptoms similar to inflammatory processes in the stomach. Next, the mice were injected with drugs that block the production of inflammation-causing steroid hormones. The brains of humans and mice produce such hormones under the influence of stress. To confirm the relationship between the emotional state that led to health problems, a colonoscopy was performed.
results
An analysis of the method for studying the large intestine revealed that in animals with the production of steroid hormones “switched off”, which the scientists introduced, there were fewer problems with damage to the gastrointestinal tract. This suggests that stress may not be good for your gut. In a study of intestinal tissue biopsies from experimental subjects, their genetic composition was studied. It became clear that in mice with a high content of hormones responsible for combating stress, changes occurred in neuronal cells. In simple terms, this means that cells from the nervous system have also been changed quantitatively, and they are responsible for the response to stress.
Comparison of human and animal bodies
The study was carried out to identify the causes of diseases in humans, so the next stage of work involved comparing materials from chordates and humans. The result of further observation was the fact that the maturation of some nerve cells stopped under severe stress. This is extremely important in humans and mice because nerve cells help move fecal matter. Tissue samples were taken from 63 people with gastrointestinal problems. These were compared with laboratory analysis of rats and revealed similar findings.
The psychological factor was taken into account, so a survey was conducted. In people who were exposed to the stress of being fired from a job, losing a loved one, or other troubles, symptoms and pain in the intestines were more bothersome than those who were not exposed to such stress. People were provided with medical assistance. For those who have intestinal problems, this medicine works great - Rebagit, from the gastroprotectors pharmaceutical group.
Biologists in another study previously drew an analogy between immune system cells in the gut that could be linked to depression, which in turn stems from stress. Sources: https://medicalinsider.ru/gastroehnterologiya/uchenye-vyyasnili-pochemu-stress-mozhet-usugubit-vospalenie-kishechnika/
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00475-0 https://rebagit.ru