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More ADHD and Immunity Details From Cincinnati Children's Hospital
A biochemical pathway long associated with diarrhea and intestinal function may provide a new therapeutic target for treating ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) other neuropsychiatric disorders, according to a team of scientists from China and the United States reporting Aug. 11 in Science.
Scientists have for the last quarter century studied the intestinal membrane receptor protein, guanylyl cyclase-C (GC-C) for its role in diarrheal disease and other intestinal functions, according to Mitchell Cohen, M.D., U.S. author on the study and director of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In fact, it had been thought that GC-C was found primarily in the intestine.
In the current study, scientists in China who collaborated with Dr. Cohen discovered that the receptor is also expressed in critical areas of the brain. The senior author on the study is Dr. Minmin Luo, a researcher at the National Institute of Biological Sciences and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Using a mouse model developed in Dr. Ralph Giannella’s laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, in which the GC-C receptor is deleted, or knocked out, the researchers found the mice exhibit hyperactivity and attention deficits. It is the first time that GC-C has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorder, according to the researchers.
“We show that the neurons selectively express GC-C and that its activation amplifies the excitatory responses mediated by other receptors on dopamine neurons in the midbrain,” said Dr. Luo. “Working through a protein kinase called PKG, GC-C activity increases brain dopamine levels and thus regulate mouse attention and activity level.”
See an abstract of the article here: Intestinal Protein May Have Role in ADHD and Other Intestinal Disorders.
Stay tuned, and drop a comment if this resonates with your experience… some just don't get it, yet!
cp
Related articles
- ADHD Medications Not Working – Immunity Matters (corepsychblog.com)
- ADHD Treatment Video: Comprehensive Reviews Matter (corepsychblog.com)
- Intestinal protein may have role in ADHD, other neurological disorders (eurekalert.org)
- Intestinal protein linked to ADHD, other neurological disorders (news.bioscholar.com)
- Intestinal protein may have role in ADHD, other neurological disorders (sciencedaily.com)
- Use of ADHD Medications Rises Among Kids, Especially Teens (livescience.com)
- ADHD Stimulant Prescriptions On The Rise (huffingtonpost.com)
7 Comments
QB,
Sounds like you are right on it… clearly metabolic, but missing the cause at this point. I would certainly encourage IgG testing anyway, as Milk and Eggs are the most common – and you may be missing one of those – we like the NeuroScience testing because of cost and often insurance support.
The fact that it works only one day and you have a problem is a direct statement regarding the narrow therapeutic window and is always metabolically based.
As I just answered on another recent posting, however, the immunity appearance may be encouraged by imbalances in trace elements. The ND in my practice [just joining] does a great job reading the traceelement.com testing and balancing them and/or removing heavy metals. Those challenges also create the narrow window effect and corrupt metabolism.
cp
Penny,
Outstanding website over there, great co-authors, thanks for coming on board over here!
We can certainly get together on these findings, and look forward to your call.
“Qualitative” is tuned into the specific allergenic foods [looks like that’s what you did], – “quantitative,” so often used by way too many provides nothing, in fact it provides falsely reassuring misinformation from a macro view = “it looks like you have a lot of IgG activity – Bad or you have none = Good. Problem with that one: you can have almost no IgG activity with severe chronic problems leaving the patient with the feeling there is no prob when the prob is so advanced physiologic deterioration has taken place.
The psychosis problem on the Celexa could be several things… please stay tuned into the blog as next year I’ll be writing considerably about toxic elements, heavy metal etc that just gum up the entire nervous system.
Will quickly put a link to your site up now, excellent job, look forward to talking, and thanks for your kind remarks!
cp
Dr. Parker,
Thanks so much for the compliment on my website and adding a link to it from your site. I have been building it for three years now and it is astonishing how much it has grown, especially in the last year, and how many people are out there searching for the same sort of answers I am for my son.
Thanks for defining the two IgG tests for me, I am certain we had the right one. Good news.
After reading a lot on your blog about neurotransmitters today, I am pretty sure the OATS test was the right one for that.
I am almost finished with your book. Just yesterday I read the part listing the signs that neurotransmitters are low. Then I ran into the office and took out the OATS tests results and found, sure enough, all his neurotransmitters are low: dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin (serotonin is super low). What a light bulb moment! Now we just have to figure out what to do about that.
Just today I lowered his Concerta dosage from 36 mg to 27 mg with the Trileptal. I noticed that the Tripletal would make things better for a week and then he’d start having real anger problems. I tried a 27 mg Concerta over the weekend and, lo and behold, his mood and clarity of thought were greatly improved. Interestingly, Concerta alone, even as much as 45 mg (combining 27 and 18 mg) wasn’t enough to curb ADHD attention and impulsivity issues.
I am going to finish up your book and give this new meds combo a week or so and then schedule a phone consult so you can look over his tests and meds history and, hopefully, make some suggestions.
Kindly,
Penny
http://aMomsViewOfADHD.com
p.s. — would be honored to post a guest post of yours on {a mom’s view of ADHD} sometime!
Penny,
Sorry to be so late in getting back here, and you raise such an absolutely important point: the NT testing is useful, but often even if you/we use good supplements they don’t do the trick unless the *entire* metabolic pathway/sequencing is lubricated and moving smoothly.
So often an aberrant IgG finding [~ 80% of the time food related] can completely muck up the otherwise insightful treatment initiatives. Next year will be blogging regularly on toxins and heavy metals as they relate to food.
It would be a big honor to write a guest post, let’s talk about a topic in Jan!
Best for the Holiday!
cp
Momma,
I like the way your doc is thinking, he is trying to stay with the program even tho your guy is having atypical results, so often termed “bipolar” by the less informed.
You are also quite right on the immunity issue as the most likely culprit. Absolutely needs IgG testing, qualitative not quantitative, a specific diet derived from that info, and very likely some presynaptic neurotransmitter precursors to adjust his neurotransmitter imbalances which are most likely the cause of these problems.
Don’t forget 3-6 mo of supplements for gut healing and rehab on that level.
If refractory to all of that we then routinely check for Toxic elements and trace element imbalances which almost always reside behind the immunity issues that don’t turn around. We have closed that door repeatedly with good result – all based upon clear testing and targeted molecular response, sometimes with chelation.
Give me a call thru Sarah on services and we can have a Brief Chat [15min] to cover an overview of next steps.
cp
I am being persistent in exploring and understanding how nutrition contributes to how well our body is functioning, or not… Recently we identified that my three children have sensitivities to a variety of foods and again persistence is coming in to play. It has been a challenge to get them to shift gears a bit, but they are starting to buy in. I overheard my 11 year old offer to read a label to my 7 year old as she was stumbling through all the big words. And then I heard him say, nope, gotta put that back. Of course he is also the first one to say yuck, I’m not eating that before he has even tasted it. I don’t like that my children have to take medicine, especially since we don’t know the long term effects, but they appear to need them at the moment and I want to make sure their system is actually getting the benefit from them. And wouldn’t it be nice if their bodies were able to address at least some of their difficulties just by being able to function to their maximum potential. After shopping, reading, trying some recipes, etc., I am left wondering about a few things and hope to get some helpful feedback. My middle one is sensitive to egg whites, but has always loved eating scrambled eggs, etc.. Are there any ideas for substitutes? Also, does anyone know of brand of oatmeal that is gluten, wheat free?
Julie,
This process is often challenging to start, but becomes easy once you see the results and get the shopping drill down. It does take a person from not thinking to thinking – or thinking a little to thinking more. But once mastered it really is no problem.
Your questions deserve more attention and one book we recommend frequently that covers the details [Guide to Food Allergies?] can be found under immunity at the CorePsych Books on the right column here. I keep one in my office for patient reference, but don’t have the exact name in mind at this early hour.
cp