CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist suggests blood flow might help humans think by modulating how neurons process information.
"Many lines of evidence suggest blood does something more interesting than just delivering supplies," said Christopher Moore of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's McGovern Institute for Brain Research. "If it does modulate how neurons relay signals, that changes how we think the brain works."
According to Moore's "Hemo-Neural Hypothesis," localized changes in blood flow affect the activity of nearby neurons, changing how they transmit signals to each other and hence regulating information flow throughout the brain.
Moore's theory has implications for understanding brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.
"Many neurological and psychiatric diseases have associated changes in the vasculature," said Moore, an assistant professor in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
"Most people assume the symptoms of these diseases are a secondary consequence of damage to the neurons," he said. "But we propose that they may also be a causative factor in the disease process, and that insight suggests entirely new treatments."
The research is discussed in the October issue of The Journal of Neurophysiology.
