I would like to mention Chroma, lights designed
for humans. Chroma, a Seattle -based innovator
founded by ex -NASA and Air Force engineer Michael
Shapiro, is on a mission to enhance physical
and mental health with purpose -built devices,
unlocking peak human health, cognitive function,
and performance. Shapiro launched Chroma to restore
the natural light lost to screens in indoor living
and delivers faster recovery, sharper minds and
better sleep. Their products hit hard. The Iron
Forge speeds muscle repair with red and near
-infrared light, while the Skylight mimics sunlight
to boost sleep and energy. A standout. the Forge
Lamp is a portable gem that fires 660 nanometer
and 850 nanometer light to energize mitochondria
and heal tissues on the go. Remember the four
red light chromophores on cytochrome c oxidase
frequently talked about in the podcast. This
is why their products are built with military
grade Durability that have lasting impact. Chromist
Tech fuses precision and power. Gallium titride
power supplies. Smaller, cooler, and stronger
than silicon. Provide flicker -free light that's
easy on the eyes. High -powered LEDs target key
wavelengths for skin, tissue, and cellular health.
with smart heat management for the lasting impact.
Every design decision Chroma makes serves a purpose
to create devices that are precise, durable,
and effective for improving human life. Remember,
humans use different wavelengths of light for
different functions of life. Remember when I
ask, what do you think light is. Chroma designs
with our biology in mind. From sleep aids and
wound healing to mitochondrial energy, full body
lights and blue light blocking glasses. They
are US made and chroma ships globally and accepts
FSA and HSA payments. Use autism at checkout
for a 10 % off discount. That's autism at checkout
for a 10 % off discount. For today's episode,
we are going to build a map. A sensory map. And
we are going to use a popular molecule in the
podcast called serotonin. Remember, this is synthesized
from tryptophan. that aromatic amino acid. Autistic
or not, we all have this sensory map. Serotonin,
remember a neurotransmitter and a neuromodulator,
plays a fascinating role whereby it shapes how
our brain constructs this sensory map. The way
it organizes and interprets sensory input from
the world. Remember, sensations are extracting
information from the outside world, making sense
of the environment. You might know of serotonin
as associated with mood regulation, and that's
true. It also influences development. We've talked
a lot about the maternal serotonin and the maternal
tryptophan during development. This key neuromodulator,
this little molecule here, fine -tunes the sensory
system that we use to navigate the world. Particularly
early in brain development. In the brain, sensory
maps are like blueprints. They're instructions.
Remember the episodes on sensory processing?
Serotonin here. helps lay out touch receptors.
We've covered the touch receptors. Some of those
hypo and hyper sensitivities with the touch receptors.
Running up through the spine and brain stem.
We're going to talk about more of the brain stem
as well. And also the visual field. How we interpret
the world visually. Remember the eyes are in
large part how humans navigate the world. Serotonin.
acts as this neuromodulator during this developmental
window and helps refine these maps by influencing
neuronal growth, synaptic connections, and plasticity.
We've talked about each one of those three and
in large part that explains autism single -handedly.
When serotonin is high or low, either way the
sensory map can be disrupted. It's not as accurate.
Now just imagine that. You're navigating the
world and your map is wrong. How is that going
to make you feel while you're trying to reach
your destination? With vision, serotonin helps
regulate the pruning of connections. In the thalamus,
we've talked about the thalamus and in the cortex,
and this ensures that inputs from the eyes traveling
downstream are properly wired, properly connected
to help create this visual map. The serotonin
molecule fine -tunes how sensory neurons compete
for space inside the brain's map. Remember, we
have three main types of neurons. Sensory neurons,
motor neurons, and interneurons. And remember
our conversations about Sensory integration.
This is in large part what we're doing because
rarely, if ever, that sensory processing is singular.
Meaning it's just vision without auditory or
without touch or it's just auditory without vision
or without touch. So rarely, if ever, that sensory
processing is singular. We are always integrating
sensations. Remember the role of the mesencephalon.
This is a large part what it's trying to accomplish.
In conditions like autism and even schizophrenia,
these things are abnormal. One thing to highlight
is this is huge in development. However, this
remains through adulthood. So some mechanisms
behind the serotonin making the sensory map.
Serotonin has several receptor types, over 14
identified subtypes. We won't go into many details
here. For instance, if you remember the dopamine,
dopamine is easy. There are two dopamine types,
excitatory, which are DR1 and 5, and inhibitory,
DR2, 3, and 4. However, with serotonin, serotonin
has seven types. And this is pretty complicated.
This is not really critical information for us.
However, they still share the excitatory and
inhibitory. Something interesting here is the
critical period. Remember, we learned so much
during this critical period at an early age.
Sensory neurons form excessive connections here.
and this allows for that accelerated learning,
if you will. Serotonin helps prune these back
through activity -dependent processes. It modulates
the release of brain -derived neutrophic factor
BDNF, which is a molecule. We've discussed this
in episodes three, four, and five. We discussed
it in A couple of those are all three of those
episodes. This is a molecule that strengthens.
Active synapses. And this tells the nervous system
these things are important. We're going to keep
these. And the ones not stamped by the BDNF are
lost. They're just washed away. Not needed. Another
thing about the serotonin is... Axonal guidance
and serotonin influences how each axon grows
and navigates to their targets. Remember, this
is huge in connections, partly by altering cytoskeletal
dynamics. So here we go. Microtubules. Very fascinating,
especially in quantum biology, quantum physics.
Remember these microtubules. Serotonin will then
affect neurogenesis and migration. This is huge
in autism and it determines how many neurons
are born and where they will go, where they will
migrate and settle in sensory regions. Remember
what the microtubules are doing. Performs a frame
for the cell and tracks for the cell so that
they can travel. In addition to the BDNF, glutamate,
the excitatory neuron, and GABA, the inhibitory
neuron, are also playing critical roles here
in helping serotonin outline what is important
and what is not needed. Some brain regions involved
here. Somatosensory cortex. This is at the top.
In the middle, part of the brain. Remember, we've
talked about the frontal eye fields, the somatosensory
area, and the parietal lobe. From the front to
back, at the top of the head, if you'd split
them in thirds, equal thirds, the frontal eye
fields is about the first third, and then the
somatosensory is about the middle, and then the
parietal lobe. Somatosensory here receives inputs.
Afference from the brain stem, those key areas
that we've discussed, especially the mesencephalon.
Remember the mesencephalon's role of motor control
and sensory integration and biasing the attention
of the living organism to the outside world.
This is all very important, all very underestimated
and overlooked quite frankly. The smite of sensory
will also receive inputs from the thalamus at
sensory relaysation. Very, very important here.
In addition, something we've talked about quite
frequently is the basal ganglia. Remember the
basal ganglia episodes, three or four episodes.
The somatosensory will send signals to the input
areas of the basal ganglia called the dorsal
striatum. But specifically, the somatosensory
will connect to the dorsal lateral region, which
is heavily involved in habit. Formation. Remember
restricted repetitive behaviors and habit formation.
The autistic phenotype very much loves their
routine and habits and obsessions. This connection
ought to be very concerning and a region of interest.
So the visual cortex as well. Serotonin shapes
those ocular dominance columns which organizes
inputs from each eye. Remember, we've talked
about the lateral geniculate nucleus, especially
in the roles of the oxytocin and vasopressin
in the Autistic Phenotype episode. An early stop
for the visual inputs is the lateral geniculate
nucleus. These have spatial relationships with
the superior colliculus. Remember, the superior
colliculus of the midbrain, the mesencephalon,
they are all very tight here. They can just reach
out and give each other high fives essentially.
The thalamus, the lateral geniculate nucleus,
the superior colliculus. These are very important
for vision. And very early in the processing
stage. They're very upstream in visual processing.
In the auditory cortex, serotonin helps define
tonotopic maps, which are frequencies of organization.
and it modulates the thalamocortical connections.
So you hear a noise, and then you're trying to
make sense of the noise, determine what it is,
what it means. Serotonin here is helping that,
helping those connections. And of course, the
thalamus, heavily involved here with sensations.
But if we're talking about brain serotonin, central
nervous serotonin, the hot spot where these are
released, part of the brainstem called the raffae
nucleus, specifically the dorsal raffae. This
brainstem structure is where serotonin lives,
and it projects widely to sensory corticals and
subcortical areas. So anytime we're talking about
brain serotonin, it's the raffae. An interesting
consideration here is the impact of stress, stress
levels, because Probably. People are familiar
with the APA axis that releases cortisol. Remember,
hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. So the adrenal
glands are the final destination here. And then
cortisol is released. Releasing cortisol will
then down regulate the serotonin though. And
this is huge. This impacts the development of
the... of serotonin creating these sensory maps.
Now if you know anything about the HPA axis,
it doesn't take much for this to come into play
here. It is healthy and a requirement even that
we have a proper cortisol release that peaks
in the morning. Cortisol is what will wake you
up in the morning. Not anything else. It's a
spike in cortisol is what wakes you up. Now,
if you think about the mismatched circadian rhythms
even, and how much that must be in play here,
very underrated, very overlooked in all of research.
Having these mismatched cortisol releases and
mismatched circadian biology, circadian rhythms,
that alone is probably enough to impact the sensory
map. I would like to take a moment and mention
a pressing issue. we are seeing in our modern
world. And that is tech use and tech light. The
data are impressive and concerning on isolated
wavelengths of light, especially shorter wavelengths,
which is blue light. For those that don't know,
we have chromophores. which are special proteins
that absorbs specific wavelengths of light. For
blue light, the light that is LED light and tech
light, that protein is called melanopsin. Melanopsin
is responsible for our circadian biology, physiology
and cell functioning, hormone regulation, and
even a connection to an area huge for mood. A
consideration we should include is this protein
was not even discovered until 1998. It seems
important for us to understand how our biology
uses the different wavelengths of light for various
aspects of our biology. This blue light chromophore
is our master controller, our master clock. Remember
circadian rhythm is a two -part process, two
independent parts. Light and dark. For a quick
reference, see the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology
and Medicine. But for now, I have something exciting.
I want to introduce a product unlike any other
product available. A highlight is the product
from Daylight Computer Company created their
product based on these factors. The Daylight
Computer is completely blue light free. It has
no flicker. Short wavelength flicker is extremely
harmful for our eyes and downstream biology.
light flicker is constantly turning our central
nervous system on and off. Essentially, it is
like going to a light switch and repeatedly turning
it on and off. The problem is blue light and
LED light does this and it is so rapid you cannot
even perceive this in real time. The daylight
computer is the lowest stimulation, and foremost
for sensory sensitive users. It is no question
that the alternative product, especially when
used at night, do not address or consider this
in their product. It is so toxic to human biology.
Big tech corporations have patents on how their
short wavelength implicate the human nervous
system. And a bonus, despite daylight computer
not having backlight, it is very functional for
outdoor use. And of course, increased sunlight
is always preferred. I am happy to offer a discount
for the daylight computer. You can use the code
AUTISM for a $25 off coupon. Again, use the code
AUTISM and the discount code for $25 off. See
the link in the show notes to Daylight Computer
Company or just give it a quick search in your
internet browser. Use the code AUTISM for $25
off. So imagine the maternal. She's pregnant.
She's already vulnerable to stress. Maybe she's
working. Maybe she's working odd shift hours.
Maybe her saccading rhythm isn't proper. That
alone is a concern because of what we've covered
with the maternal roles. And remember the short
from Dr. Hannah Stevens. Maternal contribution
is massive here, especially prenatally. Serotonin
comes from the maternal peripheral and enteric
nervous system given to the placenta through
the placenta. and arrives in the uterus, the
developing child in the uterus, supplying the
fetal brain. It's serotonin. Because remember,
the raffae part of this brain stem, this comes
from the rhomb encephalon. And this doesn't come
onto play right away. The raffae comes much later
in the embryogenesis. Another underrated aspect
is modern light, the LED and tech light will
release the cortisol via this HPA axis on its
own and at odd times. Just being under this LED
and tech light will release the cortisol. So
just imagine how much time humans, especially
mothers, are spending indoors under this modern
lighting. Now, we will get into more detail about
this momentarily, but this is, this is, in my
opinion, the cause of the rates of autism. We've
talked a lot about proliferation, differentiation,
and migration, even in this episode with the
microtubules. Serotonin, the maternal serotonin,
has a big influence on this regarding the sensory
regions, specifically. in the cortex and in the
thalamus, which by now shouldn't be a surprise
because of the roles here with the sensory map.
Maternal physiology is huge here. The physical
and mental state of the mother, the environment
of the mother, is in large part a factor here.
Not just the diet. Not just necessarily the mental
stress. or even physical health implications
like inflammation and so forth. And this is on
a feedback loop the maternal and fetal are communicating
with each other. The fetus can signal back to
the mother. The fetal demand for the tryptophan
might subtly shift maternal metabolism. Each
one can influence one another. So let's talk
about tryptophan hydroxylase 1. This is how serotonin
is synthesized in the peripheral and enteric
nervous system. TPH1 is not brain serotonin.
Brain serotonin is TPH2. But in order to understand
the maternal's role here, we need to further
go into TPH1. We've talked about this in the
Autism and Gastrointestinal Problems episode.
And this is even important in the neural tube.
We've talked about that in the embryogenesis
episodes, and even today with the proliferation,
differentiation, and migration. But let's talk
about tryptophan's role here, making the serotonin
and tryptophan's influence by the aromatic amino
acid properties. We've discussed that the light
impact on the cortisol release is already a factor.
Maybe, single -handedly, the factor. Remember
tryptophan is a building block protein. Along
with methionine and tryptophan, they each have
one codon. Essentially, all other proteins are
developed through these amino acids. However,
specifically, the aromatic amino acids and the
methionine. Tryptophan peak absorption is right
around 280 nanometer light, which is the strongest
wavelength of light reaching terrestrial land.
It starts the UVB wavelength. And then that enzyme
comes into play, be it TPH1 or TPH2, tryptophan
hydroxylase, and this is going to synthesize
serotonin and melatonin. But in addition to that,
there's this other pathway here, chyneurin. And
this is not necessarily a good thing. Tryptophan
can also be metabolized into this chyneurin,
which is a downstream neuroactive compound. And
this can influence inflammation and excitotoxicity,
overly excitation. And this is often found in
autism. This kynurenian pathway can produce acids,
a quinolenic acid. And this is very toxic. This
has implications on NMDA receptors, which are
huge for learning and excitatory. Remember, it's
an excitation receptor, NMDA and AMPA. And this
acid has massive implications to neuronal life.
life. Okay, just briefly on postnatal, because
obviously with this mood regulation and allowing
the serotonin to work, properly work, fall into
place and build a sensory map, postnatally, after
birth, the maternal role is still in force with
this comforting and touch and bonding and so
forth. Remember, in the oxytocin episode, socialness
is rewarding. Only happens when serotonin and
oxytocin converge in the nucleus accumbens. And
remember, we just briefly talked about the oxytocin
here in this episode. So this comforting and
these kind of stress buffering which both serotonin
and oxytocin have is important. now the living
arrangement the environment of the mother post
-natally even now and Going back to work being
forced back into work has changed drastically
even though over the last 20 to 50 years and
the past 100 to 150 years now we have this movement
almost in society about mothers and women being
important in the professional roles and so forth
and that has overtaken it has kind of made an
imbalance of what is important here the care
of your newborn child through this critical development
period or getting back to work and showing your
value in a professional role we all make decisions
i just hope it's informed decisions i hope you
understand the impact here when this movement
and how evolution says in many species or in
all species essentially that the mother's role
here for nurturing is vastly important. But we
neglect that. We neglect it so bad. And there
could be some societal issues here, some systematic
issues here with the family or the mother needing
the income. right away they're struggling to
make the income so they have to get back to work
early and then the child the baby or infant is
off to a babysitter where they can just feed
them change them comfort them when needed it's
all very fascinating and wrong but it is so easy
just to overlook that because everybody's focused
on the wrong things. And maybe by design, maybe
not. But if you think about the roles here postnatally
of serotonin and oxytocin that share similar
roles here with the maternal bonding, the parental
bonding, remember the magnocellular type oxytocin.
Remember that with the parental bonding. This
is huge here. and oxytocin's other roles with
the fear and anxiety buffering. It sends projections.
Oxytocin is released in the hypothalamus and
one of the central nervous system receptors is
in the brain stem area. And this is what it's
doing. It's helping us modulate our attention
and making sense of the world around us via these
brain stem areas. That's important for the sensory
integration and biasing the attention of the
living organism to the environment. If the outside
world is chaotic, we are not going to want to
spend time there. Why would you? If you think
something is chaotic, you're not going to want
that. That's not a high desire. So these sensory
maps are vital for understanding, knowing, and
moving, learning, and connecting with the outside
world. If you're listening to the podcast or
listening to the episode, please feel free to
leave a review or rating. In podcasting, reviews,
ratings, and downloads are huge and I very much
appreciate your feedback. You can contact me
on X at rps47586 And we can have any discussion
about autism. I very much appreciate your conversations
about autism. You can check out the YouTube channel
for full length videos and shorts and clips.
You can check out the hop link for links to all
of the shows across the different podcasting
platforms. And contact me. Email info .fromthespectrum
at gmail .com. Thank you for listening to From
the Spectrum Podcast.