Personality changes have been widely noted after heart transplantation. Since the transplants started.. In one case, a person who hated classical music developed a passion for the genre after winning the guts of a musician. The recipient later died. Holding a violin case.
In one other case, a 45-year-old man remarked how, since receiving The heart of a 17-year-old boyshe likes to placed on headphones and take heed to loud music – something she never did before the transplant.
A recent study suggests that Heart transplant recipients will not be unique in experiencing personality changes. These changes can occur after any organ transplant.
What can explain this? One suggestion could possibly be that it is a placebo effect where the overwhelming pleasure is achieved A new lease on life The person gives A sunny disposition. Suffers from other transplant recipients. Consequences of guilt and depression and others Psychological problems It can be seen as a personality change.
However, there may be some evidence to suggest that these personality changes are usually not all psychological. Biology may play a task.
The cells of the transplanted organ will perform their intended function – heart cells will beat, kidney cells will filter and liver cells will metabolize – but in addition they play a task elsewhere within the body. Many organs and their cells arise. Hormones or Signaling molecules Which has an effect locally and elsewhere within the body.
The heart appears to be mostly related to personality changes. The chambers release peptide hormones, incl “Atrial Natriuretic Peptide” And “Brain Natural Peptide”which help regulate fluid balance within the body by affecting the kidneys.
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They also play. Role in electrolyte balance And Stopping The activity of the a part of our nervous system that’s accountable for this. The fight or flight response. It is accountable for sales. The hypothalamus – an element of the brain that plays a task in every part from homeostasis (the balance in biological systems) to mood.
So the donor organ, which can have a distinct baseline level of hormones and peptide production than the unique organ, can alter the recipient's mood and personality through its secretions.
It has been shown that natriuretic peptide levels are More after transplantation – and never return to normal. Although some elevation might be a response to the trauma of surgery, it cannot account for every part.
Memories are stored outside the brain.
The body stores Memories in the mind. We access them when we expect or they will be triggered by sight or smell. But Memories are essentially neurochemical processes. where nerves transmit impulses to one another and exchange special chemicals (neurotransmitters) on the interface between them.
During transplant surgery, most of the nerves that control the function of the organ are severed and unable to reattach, this doesn’t mean that the nerves throughout the organ still don’t function. In fact, there may be evidence that they might be. Partially restored One yr after surgery.
These neurochemical processes and interactions can enter the recipient's nervous system, making a physiological response that then affects the recipient's personality based on the donor's memories.
We know that they’re found circulating in donor cells. The receiver's body And the donor The DNA is seen in the recipient's body. Two years after transplant. This again raises the query of where the DNA goes and what actions it may need.
One thing it does. Stimulation of immune response. These immune responses could also be sufficient to trigger personality changes because long-term, low-level inflammation is thought to be capable. Change personality traitssimilar to transcendence and integrity.
Whatever mechanism, or combination of mechanisms, is responsible, this area of research warrants further investigation to higher understand the physiological and psychological changes that occur in recipients after surgery.