OCD Action

Wombat140
Member

Interesting new piece of research I came across. It seems to indicate a link between trichotillomania (or at least something that looks very much like it) and a type of immune cells called microglia, which are formed in bone marrow and then move to the brain. I don't condone what Dr. Capecchi did to his mice, but the results are certainly interesting. The thing is that quite a lot is known about manipulating the immune system, while treatments acting directly on the brain are really still in the Stone Age. So if they can make it into an immune problem rather than a brain problem... well, the thing begins to look a whole lot more promising.

See next post for links.
Caps

Sun Jun 6 2010 21:26:20 #
Wombat140
Member

Caps pointed out to me that I somehow muffed those links. Here they are again properly.
Article from the Guardian
Article from ksl.com
Dr. Capecchi's research paper

Mon Jun 7 2010 20:42:51 #
Rena32
Member

Very interesting, as I have thought for awhile that OCD also, may be caused by some type of problem with the immune system.

Tue Jun 8 2010 3:48:18 #
Wombat140
Member

What gets me is that he mentions that immune system dysfunctions have long been known to be associated with all kinds of mental conditions, although they don't know yet which causes which. And yet at the same time, the medical community pour scorn on PANDAS and similar theories, saying that it's ridiculous to suppose that there's any connection between the brain and the immune system.
Can you beat it?

Tue Jun 15 2010 19:52:04 #