The Brain and Its Functions
The Brain and How it Works
The brain is a very complex organ, but at the higher levels there are three main areas that interest us here. Mouse over the different sections of the graphic below to see the three sections. You can click on the section to then see a description of the area and a discussion of what the area does and how.
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex utilizes multiple neurotransmitters for its complicated job. Principle among these are Dopamine and Serotonin. Dopamine works in the areas that produce our "social conscience" and allows us to have feelings of remorse about negative actions. When Dopamine is deficient in this area we find that we "just don't seem to care what others think", we don't see a need to follow societal rules, we may even become sociopathic. Persons who have used chemical stimulants may find that they "lose" the ability to have concern for others, have no "social conscience". Dopamine also assists with concentration efforts in the cerebral cortex and helps with focus. Dopamine is produced from the amino acid L-phenylalanine in our products.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the cortex that is highly involved with sensory input. Everything we see, hear, taste, touch or smell initially involves Serotonin activity in the cerebral cortex. When Serotonin is depleted for some reason we find decreasing meaning to input from our five senses. Serotonin is produced from 5-HTP in our products.
GABA activity in the cerebral cortex works to keep things "in control", in context with reality. GABA helps maintain a balanced firing of neurons so that we are not overwhelmed by any one area or sense. When GABA is deficient we find our "mind" (cerebral cortex) racing from one thought to another making it difficult to concentrate and make sense of things going on in our environment. GABA is produced from L-glutamine in our products.
Back to the pictureLimbic
The "limbic area" of our brain contains highly concentrated neurons which are involved with our many "feeling" states. Here, again, Dopamine is involved in the areas that produce the feelings of attachment, feelings of love, feelings of pleasure from normal activities. When a deficiency of Dopamine occurs here we find that we "care less" about others, feel little pleasure in life. Some actually get to the point they do NOT feel any attachment to anyone including their own children. Again, Dopamine is produced by L-phenylalanine.
Serotonin in the limbic system helps to maintain a balance of emotions, helping to avoid wide mood swings. Deficiencies of this transmitter here may result in sudden unexplained tears as well as sleep difficulties. 5-HTP helps to maintain Serotonin levels.
Opioid transmissions (enkephalin for instance) in the limbic area function to inhibit various transmitters for a balance that provides an internal sense of calm and completeness. These receptors also work to raise pain threshold so that the effect of painful injuries and experiences are lessened.
Back to the pictureLower Brain
Our "lower brain" is focused on our survival and maintaining the systems which keep us breathing and our hearts beating. Here Serotonin is working to bring sensory input to this area where "memories" of threat are stored. If new sensory input contains a threat to our survival and "lines up with" previously stored patterns of input related to threat then another transmitter, Norepinepherine, immediately begins to prepare us to fight or run. Norepinepherine (adrenalin) increases our heart rate, increases breathing, enlarges our pupils, all preparing us to face this threat in order to survive. Norepinepherine is produced by the same L-phenylalanine in our products.
To effectively produce neurotransmitters our brains (and bodies) require various "support" nutrients such as vitamin B-6, Folic acid, calcium and magnesium.
Back to the pictureSummary
The information above discusses neurotransmitters and amino acids associated with each area of the brain, but how are these used? Why are these things important? They are key to the communications in the neural network of the nervous system. We are going to briefly see how communications occur and how these neurotransmitters and amino acids are involved. The neural network is made of thousands of communications cells called neurons.
