ENDORPHINES : THE BODY’S OWN NATURAL PAIN KILLERS

• Opioids are a class of painkiller drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids
such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone
(OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others.
• Opioid peptides are peptides that bind to opioid receptors of the brain cells. Such
peptides (eg. Endorphins) are produced by the body itself. The effects of these peptides
vary, but they all resemble those of opiates.
• Brain opioid peptide systems are known to play an important role in motivation, emotion,
attachment behaviour, the response to stress and pain, and the control of food intake.
• Opioid-like peptides may also be absorbed from partially digested food (Casomorphins,
Exorphins, and Rubiscolins).
• Endorphins are endogenous opioid neuropeptides and peptide hormones in humans and
other animals. They are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland.
• The class of endorphins includes three compounds—α-endorphin, β-endorphin, and γ-
endorphin —which preferentially bind to μ-opioid receptors. The principal function of
endorphins is to inhibit the communication of pain signals. They may also produce a
feeling of euphoria very similar to that produced by other opioids.
• Endorphins are naturally produced in response to pain, but their production can also be
triggered by various human activities.
• Vigorous aerobic exercise can stimulate the release of β-endorphin, a potent μ-opioid
receptor agonist, in the human brain, which contributes to a phenomenon known as a
"runner's high".

Prof. Rahul Kundu 1

 FUNCTIONS OF ENDORPHINES
• Endorphins are hormones that the body releases in response to situations that cause pain and
inflammation. For instance, exercising, being injured, or picking up infection all can trigger
endorphin production. The body also releases endorphins in response to massage, acupuncture,
and eating chocolate or spicy foods.
• Endorphins are produced by CNS. Immune system produces endorphins during times of
inflammation, which is produced by injury and infection.
• People with chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia have lower levels of endorphins circulating
in their systems. Depression is a chronic condition that can produce considerable pain, both
emotional and physical. Learning how to trigger production of endorphins can be very beneficial for
reducing symptoms of depression.
• Exercise is one of the best ways for people with chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia and
depression to help relieve their pain and lift their mood. It helps stimulate the production of
endorphins.
• The term “runner’s high” refers specifically to the feeling of happiness and well-being, that people
get when they exercise intensely. Endorphins are chemically similar to pain-relieving drugs of the
opiate class, including morphine and codeine, and actually affect similar receptors in the brain.
• An endorphin high also helps feel more focused and able to meet challenges head-on, while taking
opiates usually leaves people feeling loopy and unable to safely perform routine tasks, such as
driving. Endorphins also have pain-relieving and calming qualities, help balance appetite, boost
immune system and sexual desire (feel sexier).
• Endorphins vs. Opiate Drugs : Part of the reason that the natural release of endorphins is quite
different from simply taking an opiate drug is that endorphins work in concert with several other
chemicals your body naturally produces in order to help manage stress and pain and feel better.

Prof. Rahul Kundu 2

 OTHER BENEFITS OF ENDORPHINES
• Endorphins work with the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine as well as the hormone oxytocin.
Serotonin and dopamine are both known to play an important role in mood regulation. In fact, many
antidepressant drugs actually function primarily by boosting these specific neurotransmitters. Increasing
their levels can help feel happier, sleep better, and manage stress more effectively.
• Oxytocin is another hormone produced naturally by the body. It is known as the “love hormone” because
it helps humans bond with each other. Oxytocin is released during activities such as hugging, sex, and
breastfeeding. It also works in concert with endorphins to help feel more relaxed, safe, happy, and
connected with people.
• Unfortunately, an endorphin high is temporary. That’s why engaging regularly in physical activity is so
important for people with depression and other chronic illnesses. One needs to trigger those “happiness
hormones” routinely in order to obtain the full benefit. Regular exercise has been shown to help relieve
symptoms of depression and anxiety, reduce stress, improve sleep, boost self-esteem, and help people
manage chronic pain.
• People suffering from depression, however, to find it hard to get going, stick with things that they find
difficult, or believe that anything will really help in the long run. Feelings such as these can make it difficult
to start an exercise program. You can help overcome this barrier by finding a form of exercise that you
really enjoy and enlisting a buddy to do it with you.
• Start out small if you need to and work your way up. Tell yourself that exercise is good for you no matter
what, so no time spent exercising is never wasted time. Try soothing forms of exercise, such as yoga, which
recently has been linked with improvements in the symptoms of several psychiatric disorders, including
depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia. It may also help alleviate
sleep problems, which too frequently accompany depression.
• It’s important to know that endorphins are not released the minute you start getting your body going.
You actually have to exercise for several minutes at least before you can enjoy their benefits. How long and
how intensely you need to exercise to produce endorphins actually varies quite a bit from person to
person.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 3
 THE HUMAN MEMORY

• Since time immemorial, humans have tried to understand what memory is, how it works and why it
goes wrong. It is an important part of what makes us truly human, and yet it is one of the most
elusive and misunderstood of human attributes.
• Memory is NOT located in one particular place in the brain, but is instead a brain-wide process in
which several different areas of the brain act in conjunction with one another. For example, the
simple act of riding a bike is actively and seamlessly reconstructed by the brain from many different
areas: the memory of how to DRIVE a bike comes from one area, the memory of how to get from
here to the end of the block comes from another, the memory of biking safety rules from another,
and that nervous feeling when a car veers dangerously close comes from still another.
• Each element of a memory (sights, sounds, words, emotions) is encoded in the same part of the brain
that originally created that fragment (visual cortex, motor cortex, language area, etc), and recall of a
memory effectively reactivates the neural patterns generated during the original encoding. Thus, a
better image might be that of a complex web, in which the threads symbolize the various elements of
a memory, that join at nodes or intersection points to form a whole rounded memory of a person,
object or event. This kind of distributed memory ensures that even if part of the brain is damaged,
some parts of an experience may still remain.
• Neurologists are only beginning to understand how the parts are reassembled into a coherent whole.
Neither is memory a single unitary process but there are different types of memory.
• Our short term and long-term memories are encoded and stored in different ways and in different
parts of the brain, for reasons that we are only beginning to guess at.
• Hypertension affects the cardiovascular system as well as the blood flow to the brain. This can cause
many symptoms including memory loss.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 4
• Memory is the faculty of the brain by which information
is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed.
• Memory is vital to experiences, it is the retention of
information over time for the purpose of influencing
future action.
• If we could not remember past events, we could not
learn or develop language, relationships, or personal
identity.
• Often memory is understood as an informational
processing system with explicit and implicit functioning
that is made up of a sensory processor, short-term (or
working) memory, and long-term memory.
• This can be related to the neuron. The sensory
processor allows information from the outside world to
be sensed in the form of chemical and physical stimuli
and attended to with various levels of focus and intent.
• Working memory serves as an encoding and retrieval
processor. Information in the form of stimuli is encoded
in accordance with explicit or implicit functions by the
working memory processor. The working memory also
retrieves information from previously stored material.
• The function of long-term memory is to store data
through various categorical models or systems.

Prof. Rahul Kundu 5

• Non-declarative, or implicit memory is the unconscious storage and recollection of information. An example of a
non-declarative process would be the unconscious learning or retrieval of information by way of procedural
memory, or a priming phenomenon.
• Priming is the process of subliminally arousing specific responses from memory and shows that not all memory is
consciously activated, whereas procedural memory is the slow and gradual learning of skills that often occurs
without conscious attention to learning.
• Memory is not a perfect processor, and is affected by many factors. The ways by which information is encoded,
stored, and retrieved can all be corrupted. The amount of attention given new stimuli can diminish the amount of
information that becomes encoded for storage. Also, the storage process can become corrupted by physical
damage to areas of the brain that are associated with memory storage, such as the hippocampus. Finally, the
retrieval of information from long-term memory can be disrupted because of decay within long-term memory.
Normal functioning, decay over time, and brain damage all affect the accuracy and capacity of memory.

• Sensory memory holds sensory information less than one second after an item is perceived. The ability to look at
an item and remember what it looked like with just a split second of observation, or memorization, is the example
of sensory memory. It is out of cognitive control and is an automatic response. This type of memory degrades
quickly and cannot be prolonged via rehearsal.
• Three types of sensory memories exist. Iconic memory is a fast decaying store of visual information; a type of
sensory memory that briefly stores an image which has been perceived for a small duration. Echoic memory is a
fast decaying store of auditory information, another type of sensory memory that briefly stores sounds that have
been perceived for short durations. Haptic memory is a type of sensory memory that represents a database for
touch stimuli.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 6
SHORT TERM MEMORY
• Short-term memory is also known as working memory. Short-term memory allows recall for a period
of several seconds to a minute without rehearsal.
• Short-term memory is believed to rely mostly on an acoustic code for storing information, and to a
lesser extent a visual code.
• Short-term memory is supported by transient patterns of neuronal communication, dependent on
regions of the frontal lobe (especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and the parietal lobe.
• The storage in sensory memory and short-term memory generally has a strictly limited capacity and
duration, which means that information is not retained indefinitely.

LONG TERM MEMORY

• Long Term Memory can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited
duration. Its capacity is immeasurable. For example, given a random seven-digit number we may
remember it for only a few seconds before forgetting, suggesting it was stored in our short-term
memory. On the other hand, we can remember telephone numbers for many years through
repetition; this information is said to be stored in long-term memory.

WORKING MEMORY
• Working Memory: In 1974 Baddeley and Hitch proposed a "working memory model" that replaced
the general concept of short-term memory with an active maintenance of information in the short-
term storage. In this model, working memory consists of three basic stores: the central executive,
the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. In 2000 this model was expanded with the
multimodal episodic buffer

Prof. Rahul Kundu 7

 WORKING MEMORY
• The central executive essentially acts as an attention
sensory store. It channels information to the three
component processes: the phonological loop, the
visuo-spatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer.

• The phonological loop stores auditory information by

silently rehearsing sounds or words in a continuous
loop: the articulatory process (for example the
repetition of a telephone number over and over
again). A short list of data is easier to remember.

• The visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial

information. It is engaged when performing spatial
tasks (such as judging distances) or visual ones (such
as counting the windows on a house or imagining
images).

• The episodic buffer is dedicated to linking

information across domains to form integrated units
of visual, spatial, and verbal information and
chronological ordering (e.g., the memory of a story
or a movie scene). The episodic buffer is also
assumed to have links to long-term memory and
semantical meaning.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 8
 FACTORS AFFECTING MEMORY
Ageing: Older adults experience memory loss, especially as it is one of the hallmark symptoms of Alzheimer's
disease. However, memory loss in Alzheimer's is qualitatively different in normal aging. Individuals' performance on
memory tasks that rely on frontal regions which declines with age. Genes that play central roles in memory and
learning were among those showing the most significant reduction with age. It was suggested that DNA damage may
reduce the expression of selectively vulnerable genes involved in memory and learning.
Disorders: Loss of memory is known as amnesia. Amnesia can result from extensive damage to: (a) the regions of the
medial temporal lobe, such as the hippocampus, dentate gyrus, subiculum, amygdala, the parahippocampal,
entorhinal, and perirhinal cortices, or the (b) midline diencephalic region, specifically the dorsomedial nucleus of the
thalamus and the mammillary bodies of the hypothalamus. Other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease
and Parkinson's disease can also affect memory and cognition. Hyperthymesia, or hyperthymesic syndrome, is a
disorder that affects an individual's autobiographical memory, essentially meaning that they cannot forget small
details that otherwise would not be stored.
Stress: Stress has a significant effect on memory formation and learning. In response to stressful situations, the brain
releases hormones and neurotransmitters (ex. glucocorticoids and catecholamines) which affect memory encoding
processes in the hippocampus. Glucocorticoids that are released during stress, damage neurons that are located in
the hippocampal region of the brain. Therefore, the more stressful situations that someone encounters, the more
susceptible they are to memory loss later on.
Sleep: Sleep affects memory consolidation. During sleep, the neural connections in the brain are strengthened. This
enhances the brain's abilities to stabilize and retain memories. Sleep improves the retention of memory. During
sleep, the hippocampus replays the events of the day for the neocortex which then reviews and processes memories,
which moves them into long-term memory. When one does not get enough sleep it makes it more difficult to learn as
these neural connections are not as strong, resulting in a lower retention rate of memories. Sleep deprivation makes
it harder to focus, resulting in inefficient learning.
Memory in Plants: Plants lack a specialized organ devoted to memory retention, and so plant memory has been a
controversial topic in recent years. New advances in the field have identified the presence of neurotransmitters in
plants, adding to the hypothesis that plants are capable of remembering. Action potentials, a physiological response
characteristic of neurons, have been shown to have an influence on plants as well, including in wound responses and
photosynthesis. Plants have also been observed to encode, store and retrieve basic short-term memories.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 9
 CNS & HYPERTENSION
Role of cardiovascular centers in Medulla Oblongata in controlling blood pressure
Role of the Cardiovascular Center
The cardiovascular system plays a role in body maintenance by transporting hormones and nutrients and removing
waste products.
Key Points
 The cardiovascular center is a part of the human brain found in the medulla oblongata, responsible for
regulation of cardiac output.
 Numerous receptors in the circulatory system can detect changes in pH or stretch and signal these changes to
the cardiovascular center.
 The cardiovascular center can alter heart rate and stroke volume to increase blood pressure and flow.
Key Terms
 cardiovascular centre: A region of the brain responsible for nervous control of cardiac output.

The cardiovascular center forms part of the autonomic nervous system and is responsible for regulation of cardiac
output. Located in the medulla oblongata, the cardiovascular center contains three distinct components: the
cardioaccelerator center, the cardioinhibitor center, and the vasomotor center.

The cardioaccelerator center stimulates cardiac function by regulating heart rate and stroke volume via sympathetic
stimulation from the cardiac accelerator nerve. The cardioinhibitor center slows cardiac function by decreasing
heart rate and stroke volume via parasympathetic stimulation from the vagus nerve. The vasomotor center controls
vessel tone or contraction of the smooth muscle in the tunica media. Changes in diameter affect peripheral
resistance, pressure, and flow, which in turn affect cardiac output. The majority of these neurons act via the release
of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine from sympathetic neurons.

The cardiovascular center can respond to numerous stimuli. Hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine or
changes in pH such as acidification due to carbon dioxide accumulation in a tissue during exercise are detected by
chemoreceptors. Baroreceptors that detect stretch can also signal to the cardiovascular center to alter heart rate.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 10
 Role of baroreceptors and cardiovascular centers in blood pressure control

Short-Term Neural Control

Neural regulation of blood pressure is achieved through the role of cardiovascular centers and baroreceptor
stimulation.
Key Points
 The cardioaccelerator center, the cardioinhibitor center, and the vasomotor center form the cardiovascular
center, a cluster of neurons that function independently to regulate blood pressure and flow.
 The release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine from sympathetic neurons directs the majority of neurons
associated with the cardiovascular center.
 Baroreceptors respond to the degree of stretch caused by the presence of blood; this stimulates impulses to be
sent to the cardiovascular center to regulate blood pressure to achieve homeostasis when needed.
Key Terms
 autonomic nervous system: The part of the nervous system that regulates the involuntary activity of the heart,
intestines, and glands. These activities include digestion, respiration, perspiration, metabolism, and blood
pressure modulation.
 norepinephrine: A catecholamine with multiple roles including as a hormone and neurotransmitter. Areas of the
body that produce or are affected by this substance are described as noradrenergic.
 sympathetic: Of or related to the part of the autonomic nervous system that under stress raises blood pressure
and heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and dilates the pupils.
 baroreceptor: A nerve ending that is sensitive to changes in blood pressure.
 parasympathetic: Of or relating to the part of the autonomic nervous system that inhibits or opposes the effects
of the sympathetic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system plays a critical role in the regulation of vascular homeostasis. The primary regulatory
sites include the cardiovascular centers in the brain that control both cardiac and vascular functions.
Neurological regulation of blood pressure and flow depends on the cardiovascular centers located in the medulla
oblongata. This cluster of neurons responds to changes in blood pressure as well as blood concentrations of oxygen,
carbon dioxide, and other factors such as pH.
Prof. Rahul Kundu 11
 Role of baroreceptors and cardiovascular centers in blood pressure control

Baroreceptor Functions

Baroreceptors are specialized stretch

receptors located within thin areas of blood
vessels and heart chambers that respond to
the degree of stretch caused by the
presence of blood. They send impulses to
the cardiovascular center to regulate blood
pressure. Vascular baroreceptors are found
primarily in sinuses (small cavities) within
the aorta and carotid arteries. The aortic
sinuses are found in the walls of the
ascending aorta just superior to the aortic
valve, whereas the carotid sinuses are
located in the base of the internal carotid
arteries. There are also low-pressure
baroreceptors located in the walls of the
venae cavae and right atrium.

When blood pressure increases, the

baroreceptors are stretched more tightly
and initiate action potentials at a higher
rate. At lower blood pressures, the degree of
stretch is lower and the rate of firing is
slower. When the cardiovascular center in
the medulla oblongata receives this input,
it triggers a reflex that maintains Prof. Rahul Kundu 12
homeostasis.