MAN'S INTERVENTION IN INTRACEREBRAL FUNCTIONS Extract from a medical report of 1967 by Jose M.R. Delgado, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, School of Medicine New Haven, Connecticut Recent technical developments allow an increasing control of biological functions by electronic instrumentation. Heart rate, urination, muscle contraction, audition, blood pressure, and other functions may be influenced instrumentally. Following this trend, techniques are being developed for the investigation and manipulation of intracerebral mechanisms in animals and in man. The newly developed electronic methodology will have important applications for epilepsy, intractable pain, involuntary movements, and mental illness. The greatest challenge, however, is the possibility that we might substitute, at least in part, human intelligence for natural choice in man's design of man's highest quality: mental functions. A further step in our technological intervention into the human body is the increasing control of biological functions by electronic instrumentation. The clinical success of electrical driving of the heart in patients with cardiac block has been widely acclaimed. The bladder has been stimulated by implanted electrodes to produce urination in cases of permanent spinal block. A method has recently been described for placing leads in the auditory nerve to circumvent deafness caused by inner ear damage. An electrical current, applied to the depressor nerve of the carotid sinus, has been used as a permanent artificial bias to lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients. The brain has an extraordinary anatomical and physiological complexity, and results of its stimulation depend on the position of the electrodes, parameters of excitation, history of the organism, environmental circumstances, and other little known factors. In addition, when exploring intracerebral physiology we are reaching not only for the soma but for the psyche itself. This is the greatest challenge in the study of cerebral functions which has two main aspects: (a) The acquisition of basic knowledge in order to understand the physical and chemical mechanisms related to mental and behavioral manifestations. (b) The development of new approaches for the treatment of cerebral disturbances. In animals and in man the inside of the brain is like an ocean through which we can navigate without visibility by relying on instrumental guidance. Cerebral maps have been complied, oriented according to stereotaxic coordinates which permit the blind placement of electrodes within any desired structure. Assemblies of very fine wires, guided mechanically by micromanipulators, are introduced through a small opening made in the skull. As the electrodes are implanted for days or months, studies may be carried out in completely awake subjects while engaged in spontaneous normal activity. In humans, implanted electrodes are now used in major hospitals for the diagnosis and treatment of difficult cases of epilepsy, involuntary movements, organic pain, anxiety, and other illnesses. The presence of electrodes in the brain is not harmful or even uncomfortable, and patients live a normal life in their own homes. Repeated exploration of the brain in fully conscious subjects is part of the necessary study to orient treatment and to control their illness, and at the same time it provides important information about correlations between brain physiology, mental activity, and behavioral performance. Basic experimentation is conducted in several animal species, and because of their relative biological closeness to man, monkeys have been particularly useful subjects. Radio Stimulators In the present electronic age when we are in radio communication with orbiting capsules and with the stars, it should not be too difficult to establish radio contact with the inside of the brain. Actually, however, until recently we lacked suitable instrumentation. Refined electronic knowledge certainly is available, but the present orientation of civilization is to direct a large part of our economic and intellectual resources toward the conquering of outer space and similar enterprises while paying much less attention to exploration of the inner space of the brain. To change this situation it is necessary to understand the importance and the possibility of manipulating cerebral physiology, which is, after all, the basis of human personality. This field has fundamental medical, social, and even philosophical implications and should attract the intelligent collaboration of the best electronic engineers. since 1959, I have been interested in the development of suitable instrumentation, and my initial design of a rather simple, reliable, single channel stimulator has provided interesting behavioral information. For the last year, a new three channel system, developed in collaboration with Mr. Per Hals, has been successfully used in our monkey colonies. It should be expected that in the immediate future, use of microminiaturization and integrated circuits will allow greater reduction in size and increase in sophistication of cerebral radio-stimulators. Programmed Stimulators Some studies of brain physiology require cycles of repeated prolonged stimulation. For example, excitation of the lateral hypothalamus in cats for 0.5 seconds every 5 seconds for 1 hour daily, for 10 days, increased the intake of food 10 times above control levels. In other experiments in cats, stimulation of the basolateral amygdala for 5 seconds, every 15 seconds, for 24 hours, produced a significant and lasting decrease of food intake. These programs for excitation may be easily set in the radio-transmitter, but it is more practical to establish the program in the stimulator carried by the animal. The advantage of the programmed stimulator is that it is self contained and does not depend on a radio-link, and therefore the mobility of the subject is not limited, which is an important castration in possible application of this unit for ambulatory therapy in humans. A similar method has been used to modify the functional activity of the depressor nerve of the carotid sinus dogs, and subsequently also in man, in order to reduce excessive levels of blood pressure. This methodology has great scientific and clinical importance, and results already obtained demonstrate that the set point of biologically self-regulated mechanisms may be artificially modified by low level continuous stimulation of the appropriate neural tissue. Radio Injectors Neuronal activity is the product of a multitude of phenomena which may be influenced by electrical and chemical means. The use of electricity has a long history in neurophysiology, while the application of chemicals directly into the brain is more difficult and has had a limited acceptance. The recent development of cerebral biochemistry and psychopharmacology has promoted great interest in the study of cerebra-biochemical correlations and the possible clinical use of intracerebral injections. From the experimental point of view, behavioral investigations in animals require individual freedom, and for this purpose methods have been designed for remote control administration of drugs. The animals are equipped with mutilated electrodes attached to fine tunings, forming assemblies called "chemitrodes" which are permanently implanted into the brain. Administration of chemicals is performed with a specially designed "chemitrode pump", which measures 40 x 18 mm. and weighs only 10 grams, and consists of two lucite compartments separated by an elastic membrane. One side is filled with synthetic spinal fluid or any other solution to be injected, and the adjoining side is filled with a solution of hydrozoan. When a current is passed through the latter compartment, gas is released and its pressure pushes the drug to be injected through the chemitrode. It is well known that the brain generates electrical activity which can be recorded by means of electrodes in contact with the scalp, or even better, implanted within the cerebral tissue. It is also known from the investigations of other authors, that the process of learning is accompanied by reliable changes in the electrical activity of the hippocampus, and that decision making, conditioning, and instrumental responses have detectable signs of electrical activity in specific cerebral structures. We should expect to establish new correlations between spontaneous - or evoked - behavioral manifestations and pattern of electrical activity within determined structures. This type of investigation is clearly of great interest, and several companies are now offering instrumentation of multichannel recording of biological data including heart activity, temperature, blood pressure, muscle activity, brain activity, and other phenomena. Technology in this area is advancing rapidly and we may expect solutions to these problems in the near future. Telemetry is only of secondary interest in the present article which deals mainly with brain stimulation. The possible use of biological or atomic batteries does not seem to be practical in the next few years but could be an excellent solution in the more remote future. . . . . For therapeutic purposes, bilateral stimulation of symmetric areas of the brain has many advantages. In addition, active areas are usually multiple. A compromise is necessary between the practicality and convenience of controlling many areas of the brain, and four channels of stimulation seem to be reasonable number. The anatomical and physiological mechanisms underlying motility, emotions, memories, desires, and behavioral responses in general, are inside the circuitry of the central nervous system, which until recently could be reached exclusively through sensory inputs. Development of the methodology described above for the exploration of the depth of the brain represents an artificial path for extrasensory communication with neurons. Electrical stimulation of cerebral areas with play a role in emotional responses usually evoked not a stereotyped movement as described in the previous paragraphs, but a change in the general reactivity toward environmental inputs. For example, in monkeys, radio-stimulation of the tegmentum, central gray, middling thalamus, and other areas of the brain related to offensive-defensive manifestation produced results which depended on the hierarchical status of the stimulated animal and on the social situation. When this type of stimulation was applied to the boss of the colony, his aggressive behavior was preferentially directed against a particular monkey, usually an unfriendly male, and never against the female who had been his favorite companion and palmate. The boss' increased aggressiveness depended on electrical stimulation of the brain, while the details of his aggressive performance and the direction of hostility were determined by his previous experience and by the location and the reaction of the other animals. Instincts are genetically determined and are among the most solid patterns of response which exist in the brain. electrical stimulation, however, is able to modify instinctive behavior, as demonstrated in some of our experiments. Mother-infant relations are well established in rhesus monkeys, the mother spent most of her time hugging her baby, nursing, grooming, and taking continuos care of him. This relation was disrupted as soon as the mesencephalon was radio-stimulated, and the mother was induced to adopt an offensive attitude, circling rapidly and biting different parts of her body. She completely lost her interest in the baby, and ignored his tender calling and attempts to approach her, after 10 seconds of brain stimulation, this unnatural attitude persisted for about 10 minutes, after which the mother gradually regained interest in holding the little monkey in her arms, only to abandon him again as soon as cerebral stimulation was repeated. MAN'S DESIGN OF MAN While primitive societies adapted to the environment by taking refuge in cavies and eating natural products, civilized man has continuously tried to modify the environment according to his needs, and recently has begun to alter his own biology, producing taller races, increasing the span of life, and controlling his own reproduction. Following this trend, we have started to influence the physiological basis of the mind, and scientific investigation has established the principle that: We can experiment with intracerebral mechanisms responsible for the onset, development and maintenance of specific behavioral and mental functions. We are certainly facing ethical, philosophical and practical problems not exempt from risks, but we should also expect important medical applications of the new methodology to epilepsy, intractable pain, involuntary movements, and mental illness. The greatest challenge, however, is the possibility that we might substitute - at least in part - human intelligence for natural choices in man's design of man's highest quality: mental functions. This investigation was supported by research grants from the United States Public Health Services, M2004, and the Office of Naval Research, Number 609(48). Reference: the only one not of Jose M. Delgado's papers: Adey, W.R., Dunlop, C.W., and Hendrix, C.E. Hippocampal slow waves. Distribution and phase relationship in the course of approach learning. Arch. Neurol. Chicago. 3:74-90, 1960. ************************************************************** MINDCONTROL-L Mind Control and Psyops Mailing List To unsubscribe or subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text: "unsubscribe MINDCONTROL-L" or "subscribe MINDCONTROL-L". Post to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wes Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, list moderator
