Hispanic Research on Neuropsychiatry

One of the earliest Hispanic neuroscience researchers was Dr. Cajal of Spain. Cajal won the Nobel prize for his study of the normal brain and nervous system.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Cajal was born in 1852 and died in 1934. He shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Golgi, another brilliant neuroscientist in 1906. "The brain is a world consisting of a number of unexplored continents and great stretches of unknown territory."

Santiago Ramón y Cajal"As long as our brain is a mystery, the universe, the reflection of the structure of the brain will also be a mystery."

I have been interested in the brilliant research of Dr. Mesa Castillo of Havana, Cuba. Unlike Cajal, Castillo is still alive and still doing research. He has claimed to have found a blood test for schizophrenia using the electron microscopic examination of the platelets.

Castillo's Blood Test for Schizophrenia

Dr. Segundo Mesa Castillo of the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana has discovered a blood test for schizophrenia.

"In platelets of schizophrenic patients morphological alterations were observed consistent in: a) increase of the size, in occasions up to three times the size observed in control platelets. b) alterations in the form, acquiring rare forms with increase in the longitude of the filopodias and deformity of the same ones with increase of the traverse diameter. c) vacuolation with formation of big vacuoles inside of and outside of the platelets. Presence of spherical and hexagonal particles inside the big vacuoles as well as remains of membranes e) Increase of microtubules with formation of bundles of the same ones. f) increase in the glycogen concentration occupying great part of the platelet and inside the big vacuoles. g) diminished electrondensity." Mesa Castillo

My own interpretation of these results is that the glycogen deposits reflect an error in glucose metabolism in which glucose is being burned too slowly. The increase in platelet size may reflect the fact that the cell are overeating some macronutrient(s). The particles might be the residue of a metabolic toxin. I don't know what the diminished electron density means.

"The platelet alterations found in schizophrenic patients in this additional study of patients with recent onset of the illness allowed us to confirm our previous findings that this alterations are independent of the time of evolution of the illness and of the long term use of neuroleptics. Neither they are related with the age, sex, the studied population's ethnic characteristics neither with the clinical form of the illness." Mesa Castillo

"The morphological alterations
I feel that Mesa Castillo's blood test is of great value and should be used to diagnose schizophrenia. However, it should also be investigated in depression and bipolar illness. The test might come out positive for all three illnesses. Further research is needed.

My Own Theories

My own theories are explained extensively in items in the bibliography which are available free full text on the Internet. My theories are partly based on Mesa Castillo's work, but are also based on other research.

Conclusions

Dr. Mesa has picked up where Cajal left off. Cajal studied the normal brain, which is very useful because you have to compare diseased brains with the normal brain. Mesa has studied the schizophrenic brain and schizophrenic platelets. However, I disagree with Mesa's theory. Mesa feel that schizophrenia is caused by a virus. He favors the use of antiviral drugs as treatments.

"In all these studies (nervous system and blood) we have observed deep alterations of cellular membranes with formation of big vacuoles, widened of the nuclear envelope in neurons, proliferation of cell membranes and in general a great relation of membranes structures to the origin of the virus particles." Mesa

My own view is that a toxin produced from dopamine causes metabolic errors.

Much of Mesa's work is available full free text on the Internet (as is my own work) at the WPA (World Psychiatric Association) website. This site is listed in the bibliography (see 2). Some of his work is published in Spanish and some of it is in English.

There have also been other Hispanic researchers including Edmuno Fisher of Argentina. Fisher thought that a toxic amine similar to bufotenin caused schizophrenia. He found an abnormal spot on the chromatograms of the urine of schizophrenics. He thought that this spot represented a "bufotenin-like substance". Bufotenin is a doubly methylated amine. However, it is unlikely that bufotenin itself causes schizophrenia. Bufotenin itself has been given to humans and animals and causes horrendous peripheral effects. The toxin that causes schizophrenia has central effects but little peripheral effects. Schizophrenics don't turn blue!

Bibliography

1. Mesa CS. Schizophrenia: cytopathological diagnosis valuation scale. Carib Med J 1998; 60: 29-32.

2. Mesa CS. A transcultural study between schizophrenic and control population of Cuba and Spain. WPA Educational Section available at http://www.wpanet.org/education/docs/atranscultural.doc, Mayo, 2005.

3. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/929351/thoughts_on_bipolar_disorder.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/942267/abnormal_psychology_the_etiology_of.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/931767/the_interpretation_of_abnormal_lymphocytes.html
6. www.associatedcontent.com/article/905903/the_human_brain_and_its_afflictions.html

7. Xalabarder C. Abnormal thrombocytes in schizophrenia: electron microscopy observation. Agressologie 1973; 14: 275-279.

8.Kessler A, Shinitzky M, Kessler B. Number of platelet dense granules varies with age, schizophrenia and dementia. Dementia 1995; 6: 330-3.

9. Mesa CS, Sosa ES, Niebla OA, Barry NG, Orgas MH, Pacheco EG. Inoculation of chicken embryos with the cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenic patients. Abstr. S8-6. Presented at the Second World Conference on Viruses, Immunity and Mental Health. Mont Gabriel. Quebec. 4 to 7 October 1988.