Sci-News reports on a pair of studies that may have implications for a number of chronic auto-immune conditions, especially chronic pain conditions. It may be that some people have a heightened ability to remember “negative images” and there may be a connection between that ability and the immune system:
Researchers from the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, Ulm University, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, and Universities of Konstanz, Cologne, Bonn and Leipzig, have now carried out two studies that demonstrate that this link between the immune system and brain is more significant than previously believed.
In the first study, reported in the journal Nature Communication, the researchers searched for epigenetic profiles, i.e. regulatory patterns, in the blood of 533 healthy young adults.
In their genome-wide search, the authors identified an epigenetic profile that is strongly correlated with the thickness of the cerebral cortex, in particular in a region of the brain that is important for memory functions.
This finding was replicated in a sample comprising 596 participants. It also showed that it is specifically those genes that are responsible for the regulation of important immune functions in the blood that explain the link between the epigenetic profile and the properties of the brain.
In the second study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, the team studied the genomes of healthy participants who remembered negative images particularly well or particularly poorly.
A variant of the TROVE2 gene, whose role in immunological diseases is currently being investigated, was linked to participants’ ability to remember a particularly high number of negative images, while their general memory remained unaffected.
This variant also led to increased activity in specific regions of the brain that are important for the memory of emotional experiences.
The researchers also discovered that the TROVE2 gene is linked to the strength of traumatic memories.
I’ve explained my own circumstances to people as remembering every injury I’ve ever received and it sounds like it’s possible that characterization isn’t far from the truth.
You have a remarkable memory for a lot of things, don’t you? Multiple languages, trivia master, etc.?
There are a number of studies showing that events linked to strong emotions are more likely to be remembered. That said, most of these genetic linkage studies don’t pan out. Usually too small so they are underpowered.
Steve