You’ve probably heard of Pavlov. He’s the Russian physiologist, who in the 1890s noticed that his dogs salivated when he was around because they associated his presence with being fed. He later showed that different signals—like a buzzer or electric shock—could all be made to trigger the same automatic response. Fast-forward a century and scientists are using the same conditioning phenomenon, but not to affect responses like salivation, but to influence immune responses and potentially save lives.
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Here’s an example of how it works from a small study conducted in 1996: Scientist Robert Ader mixed Cytoxin, an extremely toxic drug that treats autoimmune diseases, with an anise-flavored syrup and gave it to 10 patients who had multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune condition. When he later gave the syrup alongside a placebo pill instead, eight of the patients responded with immunosuppression. In other words, because they had first taken Cytoxin with the strong-flavored syrup, their body associated the drug with the taste. So the next time they tasted the syrup, their body automatically responded as if they took the active drug—even though they hadn’t actually taken it.
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So far the methodology is still in the testing phase, but the scientists behind it believe the principle could be used soon to reduce drug doses for patients suffering from non-life-threatening conditions such as asthma or arthritis. The hope is that eventually there will be conditioning regimes for cancer or organ transplant patients.
The article is an interesting read as it goes in-depth into the science and the various trials that have already been performed. This could really be a game-changer!
Curated article from:
Mosaic Science
