Book Recommendation: The Secret Language of Cells

[Wishful]

By Jon Lieff, MD. It's all about the communications between cells and how that affects how the body works. It's low on detail, so you'd have to look elsewhere for that. It won't tell you what to try for treating ME. It might stop you from wasting time on overly simplistic theories about ME, once you realize just how complex the body really is. This book is about recent advances in knowledge in this field, which is useful, since older books may contain outdated or outright false information or beliefs. I learned some things that might explain a few things about my ME symptoms and responses.

I'm still boggled by the complexity of cells revealed by this book. I had imagined neurons as relatively simple circuit elements, with a layer of fat (myelin) on the axons. The myelin alone is boggling, being applied in carefully positioned and sized patches, and altered when the neuron is used, and the bare patches may be used for communication with other cells using chemicals or electrical signals. Inside, there are complex molecules with the equivalent of two legs with feet that run up and down microtubules, delivering molecules and vesicles to specific destinations, like Amazon deliveries. My bogglement depends on all those tiny components doing their thing and interacting with others, just to make my neuron work. All that arose from errors in DNA and RNA replication or transcription.

I thought it was a good library find.

 

[southwestforests]

That sounds interesting.
Since you found it at library, let's see if our rural library system might have it...
Aw, they don't.

Our little 4 branch rural library system is a quite nice one, so that's no dig at them.

Hmm,
is available via Amazon.
368 pages
April 2022 publishing date.

Wow, 75% of the reviews are 5 star, that definitely says something.

Hehe, I very much relate to that commenter!

I’m not a biologist but was able to understand most of what’s explained and was amazed at how much has been learned since I was in high school biology class.

Yeah, my high school biology class was ...
(drum roll please)
Almost but not quite half a century ago.

 

[Wishful]

Yes, I didn't need to go back to the library for a high school textbook, or even check wiki to get through the book. I consider it an overview, for people without a degree in biology. I think it provides a better perspective on how our bodies work than what we usually find in textbooks or worse, health magazines. The typical magazine article mentions that nutrient x is used in muscle cells, so buy lots of that supplement. It leaves out that the supplement doesn't magically teleport to the right spot in those cells and doesn't also affect other cells negatively.

I did skim or skip the sections on viral infections and cancer, since they didn't interest me enough.

 

[kushami]

That sounds like an interesting book. I used to read a lot of popular science books, listen to podcasts, etc., but I seem to have lost the interest or ability these past few years.

I will see whether my library has this one. Thank you for the recommendation, @Wishful.

 

[Wayne]

The myelin alone is boggling, being applied in carefully positioned and sized patches, and altered when the neuron is used, and the bare patches may be used for communication with other cells using chemicals or electrical signals.

Hi @Wishful -- My first thought (or question) was whether or not they mentioned how a person's emotions or attitudes may affect some of this neurological intricacy? Seems given the complexity, that whether a person is calm or anxious, angry or happy, grateful or ungrateful, etc., can all play a role in how these neuron's function. But how would you measure that?

 

[Wishful]

I can't recall anything specific about feedback from emotions, etc, but all those things would have to involve communication between cells. Getting angry, for example, would boost some hormone, change blood flow and nutrient and waste levels, involve glial cells, probably restructuring some myelin patches, sending some new signals down to the gut and getting some in return. Amazingly complex.

How to measure that? I think present technology might manage the equivalent of a few street cams watching traffic in a megacity at rush hour. You might learn something, but you'd be missing a lot more.

Brain activity involves highly localized communication (inside cells, and to close neighbours), communication all the way across the brain and down to the gut and maybe beyond, and everything in between, and it's not just the equivalent of a few yes/no signals, but more like the entire internet, with large data files, news reports, and texts with just one emoticon. I think we'll have to wait for advanced AI to even start to make sense of it.

 

[southwestforests]

And then there are the questions of: Does current state of neural complexity affect emotions? Does condition of, do disorders of, the myelin affect emotional nerve activity?

It is all so interconnected and interdependent.

 

[Wishful]

I was thinking more about the complexity of cells. Long ago, the oceans were filled with primitive bacterial (and archaea) cells. Their DNA replication and transcription mechanisms were error-prone, so lots of random proteins were being manufactured. Some proteins improved cell integrity and function by being scaffolding. Eventually one developed the basic proteins for microtubules. Lots of variations, with some not having a stop function, and rupturing the cell; some stopping too early. Over time, there were improvements in signalling, and the motor molecules and their signalling systems. The same happened for other components of cells. Billions of years of improvements and complexity. Add in interactions with other organisms. Multicellular organisms build on that, with their cells interacting with each other and external ones.

Still boggled.