I know many of you here have laid down to the altar of the Pineal Gland. Out of all of the things to "worship" in a sense, it's not a bad one to
Now, mind you, we have to consider that the brain, in it's seemingly infinite complexity, is a highly differentiated device, meaning it is composed of
many different macro structures, which they themselves are made up of mostly neurons and other cells which are strongly electrochemical in nature
That being said, I'd like to go into the Pineal Gland a wee bit.
Some of you are familiar with the Pineal Gland, and how it is a "third eye" in a sense. The Pineal gland has remnant features that are photo or photon
recepting cells within it's body. This is due to fact that the Pineal gland is directly related to Sleep, consciousness, and the circadian cycle.
See, what happens is the Pineal Gland produces Melatonin by default. However, when the wavelengths of optical light, I believe somewhere around
520-540 nm (which is blue light) enter your eyes, those specific photons, of that specific energy, cause the Pineal Gland to shut off Melatonin
production. Ever heard of blue blocker lenses? People often will wear these an hour or two before sleep so that they are sleepier.
As for dream time. Well, it's highly possible that the Pineal gland to send out specific triggers, but, if you want to get a better understanding of
the matter, you need to look at what the Pineal Gland is connected to, and what those things are directly influenced by.
More on the Pineal's make up:
Pinealocytes: The pinealocytes consist of a cell body with 4–6 processes emerging. They produce and secrete melatonin. The pinealocytes can be
stained by special silver impregnation methods. Their cytoplasm is lightly basophilic. With special stains, pinealocytes exhibit lengthy, branched
cytoplasmic processes which extend to the connective septa and its blood vessels.
Interstitial cells: Interstitial cells are located between the pinealocytes. They have elongated nuclei and a cytoplasm which is stained darker than
that of the pinealocytes.
Perivascular phagocyte: Many capillaries are present in the gland, and perivascular phagocytes are located close to these blood vessels. The
perivascular phagocytes are antigen presenting cells.
Pineal neurons: In higher vertebrates neurons are located in the pineal gland. However, these are not present in rodents.
Peptidergic neuron-like cells: In some species, neuronal-like peptidergic cells are present. These cells might have a paracrine regulatory
Wha-wha whaaaat? We're talking 4 different types of cells in this puny gland, some of which are neurons! That's one hard working gland.
Now for the Pineal's associations:
If you notice, the Pineal gland (in red) has a red "stalk" that travels down into the very center of the Cerebellum. I'm fairly certain this "Stalk"
is a stalk of white matter communicating signals from the Pineal to the Arbor Vitae, which is the central white matter section of the cerebellum. The
cerebellum is lightly understood to control muscle coordination, but more recent research has suggested that it sends signals to other parts of the
brain, not only the body, which leads me to believe it may just be related to COORDINATION, or TIMING in general.
Furthermore, the simple fact that the pineal gland has a channel going directly into the center of the Cerebellum (which has up to 4 times more
processing matter "Gray matter" than the Cerebrum, despite only making up 10% of the brain's volume), combined with the fact that the the cerebellum
has, at the center, a seemingly random snake-like portion of gray matter, leads to more questions about the Pineal and it's integration with these
Let's go deeper.
Ever gotten an MRI of your brain? If so, check out the one image that is a side profile, where you can see all of the central structures. I'd post
mine, but there's no way I feel comfortable with some certain people seeing that ish...
If you look at it, you'll see what I was talking about above, the Pineal gland attaching to the cerebellum by a stalk. However, you'll also notice
that the Pineal gland has two, not one stalk coming off of the front of it as well. This stalk travels through the two Thalami, the two hemispheres of
the Thalamus. The region between being known as the cerebro-spinal fluid filled "Third Ventricle".
So now we have the Pineal gland that is directly tied into the center of the white matter inside the cerebellum, and the Pineal also has a stalk that
exchanges fluids with the Third ventricle which sits inside the two thalami. In fact:
Unlike much of the rest of the mammalian brain, the pineal gland is not isolated from the body by the blood–brain barrier system; it has
profuse blood flow, second only to the kidney.
Curious about what a Thalamic hemisphere is/does?
The thalamus is like a switch board. It receives signals from pretty much every part of the brain, sensory, cerebellar, cerebrum, you name it. It also
SENDS signals, to pretty much every part as well! This is relevant, as the next door neighbor, the Hypothalamus, as well as Thalamic nuclei, send
signals from our actual eyes directly to the Pineal gland, as mentioned earlier by the photo-reception of blue light. Quite an important piece of the
puzzle, if you ask me.
Another fact, the Pineal gland happens to sit right at the hind end and wedged inside the two thalamic hemispheres.
The Egyptians seem to have found some significance in this region:
Is it possible that the Pineal, along with the Cerebellum, can help not only coordinate bodily movements, but coordinate movements within the cortex,
The cerebellum does not initiate movement, but it contributes to coordination, precision, and accurate timing
Makes you wonder about all that "coincidence" jargon...
edit on 19-11-2012 by ProperlyErrant because: (no reason given)
edit on 19-11-2012 by ProperlyErrant because: (no reason