Word: wurtman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...brain's reward system, which when stimulated produces sensations of pleasure. If schizophrenics are indeed on a dopamine "high."; their internal reward systems may be constantly turned on. His University of Chicago colleague Richard J. Miller is tracing the link between dopamine and endorphins. At M.I.T., Richard Wurtman, who is studying various neurotransmitters, notably acetylcholine, has found that their production can be increased by diet. Indeed, by upping a patient's intake of foods rich in lecithin-a precursor of acetylcholine -especially egg yolks, meat and fish, such disorders as senility, manic-depression and the loss of motor...
According to Dr. Richard Wurtman of M.I.T. and Dr. Nicholas Zervas of Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, a large part of stroke injury may be caused by imbalances in the brain's neurotransmitters, the chemicals that carry nerve impulses from one neuron, or brain cell, to another. The doctors base their theory on experiments in which Neurosurgeon Zervas produced massive strokes in 13 monkeys by cutting off blood flow-and thus oxygen-to the left sides of their brains. Examining the brains afterward, he and Wurtman found that there were dramatic changes in the levels of dopamine...
This discovery was the first proof that neurotransmitter levels change following a cutoff of blood to the brain; it forms the basis of the Wurtman-Zervas theory. The two neuroscientists speculate that cells starved of oxygen as the result of strokes die and allow their stored dopamine to escape. Dopamine is normally released only in minuscule amounts, and a sudden flood of the chemical can be lethal. Excess dopamine can cause nearby blood vessels to contract, cutting off oxygen to neighboring cells and thus spreading the stroke damage. After the flood has subsided, there is a serious shortage...
...Wurtman and Zervas concede that evidence in support of their theory is still fragmentary. But their hypothesis is consistent with the clinical picture of stroke, in which victims frequently develop worsening symptoms, and sometimes permanent paralysis, over a period of several hours after the initial episode. It also suggests a way in which the damage that follows a stroke may be lessened. Drugs are now available to restore proper neurotransmitter balances in patients suffering from depression, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. Proper use of these drugs after a stroke might restore the balance in survivors and reverse some...