Super Psychiatrists: Dr. Uranova

I have decided to honor brilliant psychiatrists that I have not yet honored. Natalya Uranova does basic research. The difference between basic research and applied research is simple. Dr. Michael Lesser of the US does research on a brain chemistry diet to treat mental illness. That is applied research. Uranova does research on the brains of schizophrenics and people with mood disorders. She studies their brains with the elctron microscope. That is basic research. Both types of research are valuable.

If you want to create a brain chemistry diet, you should know what is going on in the brain in mental illness. Otherwise it will be trail & error.

Research

"There is a lot of evidence of astrocytic dysfunction in schizophrenia." Kolomeets NS, Uranova N.
Laboratory of Clinical Neuropathology, Mental Health Research Center, Moscow, Russia.

This quote is from Ref. 1.

"The data suggest progressive disturbances of astrocyte function due to the deficit of mitochondria in schizophrenia." Kolomeets & Uranova

The second quote is from the same reference.

Other Studies

"Dystrophic changes of oligodendrocytes structure and an atrophy of part of myelinated fibers were found in schizophrenia. The severity of pathology was significantly associated with the age at disease onset." Kolomeets NS, Uranova NA

The above quote is from Ref. 2. Ref. 7 is available free full text at the American Journal of Psychiatry website.

Other Approaches

Of course neuropathology is not the only approach to mental health. It is a good approach, but ultimately the diseases need to be understood on a molecular level. My previous articles have discussed biochemical approaches (11-18). Microscopy can be used to try to figure out what the cell is doing. We know that energy metabolism takes place in the mitochondria. Protein synthesis takes place in the Nissl bodies, sometimes called the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

Conclusions

Uranova and her colleagues have proven that schizophrenia and mood disorders are organic. The next step is to devise a treatment, which would also be organic. Dr. Lesser has suggested a brain chemistry diet as a treatment. The Russians have experimented with fasting. Fasting was tried at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., but the treatment failed.

Because of the importance of finding a successful treatment, future Super Psychiatrists sequels will probably deal with psychiatrists who have used a biochemical approach. Mesa, a medical maverick, has blamed schizophrenia on a virus. Mesa is from Cuba. Friedhoff, now deceased, tried the biochemical approach. In the future I may honor the late Arnold J. Friedhoff of New York City. He found a chemical, DMPEA, that was only in schizophrenics. So far, as far as I know, no treatment has been based on the DMPEA theory. This is probably due to the fact that nobody believes this theory except for me. Nevertheless it is a good theory, in my opinion.

A toxic substance in the blood would be consistent with the Russian work (6). DMPEA has been shown to be toxic in animal experiments. It has a chemical structure similar to that of mescaline. Stocking predicted in 1940 that an endogenous substance similar to mescaline caused the various forms of mental disorder. Stockings based this on his experiments with mescaline.

References

1. Ultrastructural abnormalities of astrocytes in the hippocampus in schizophrenia and duration of illness: A postortem morphometric study.

Kolomeets NS, Uranova N.

World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Apr 9:1-11. [Epub ahead of print]

2. [Pathology of oligodendroglia and myelinated fibers of the hippocampus in schizophrenia (an ultrastructural and morphometric study)]

Kolomeets NS, Uranova NA.

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2008;108(8):52-60. Russian.

3. Deficit of pericapillary oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia.

Vostrikov V, Orlovskaya D, Uranova N.

World J Biol Psychiatry. 2008;9(1):34-42.

4. Deficit of perineuronal oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Vostrikov VM, Uranova NA, Orlovskaya DD.

Schizophr Res. 2007 Aug;94(1-3):273-80. Epub 2007 Jun 13.

5. The role of oligodendrocyte pathology in schizophrenia.

Uranova NA, Vostrikov VM, Vikhreva OV, Zimina IS, Kolomeets NS, Orlovskaya DD.

Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2007 Aug;10(4):537-45. Epub 2007 Feb 21.

6. [The action of blood serum of patients with endogenous psychoses on cell membranes in the human embryonic brain tissue: ultrastructural study]

Buravlev VM, Ziminz IS, Rakhmanova VI, Brusov OS, Dupin AM, Muratova AA, Uranova NA.

Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2004;104(3):70-2. Russian.

7. Pathology of layer V pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia.

Black JE, Kodish IM, Grossman AW, Klintsova AY, Orlovskaya D, Vostrikov V, Uranova N, Greenough WT.

Am J Psychiatry. 2004 Apr;161(4):742-4.

8. Uranova NA, Orlovskaya DD: Ultrastructural pathology of neuronal connectivity in postmortem brains of schizophrenic patients, in Annals of Psychiatry: Basic and Clinical Neurosciences, vol 6. Edited by Cacabelos R. Barcelona, Prous Science, 1996, pp 55-72.

9. Uranova N, Orlovskaya D, Vikhreva O, Zimina I, Kolomeets N, Vostrikov V, Rachmanova V: Electron microscopy of oligodendroglia in severe mental illness. Brain Res Bull 2001; 55:597-610.

10. Uranova NA, Casanova MF, DeVaughn NM, Orlovskaya DD, Denisov DV. Ultrastructural pathology of neuronal connectivity in postmortem brains of schizophrenic patients. Schizophr Res (1996) 22:81-83.

11. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1878963/integrative_medicine_and_psychiatry.html

12. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1875519/let_them_eat_risperidone.html

13. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1872117/microscopy_studies_in_mental_health.html

14. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1861001/nutrition_and_mental_health.html

15. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1854191/chemical_tests_for_mental_illness.html
16. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1839047/medical_breakthroughs_in_psychiatry.html
17. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1835535/the_latest_research_in_psychiatry.html
18. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1832155/tryptophan_in_medicine.html