A class of synthetic chemicals/drugs similar to opiates (opium derivatives) with analgesic properties. Due to binding to opiate receptors, opioids mimic opiate activity on neurons, various cells (i.e. lymphocytes), pain suppression and other neurobehavioral activity. – NCI Thesaurus, U.S. National Cancer Institute
Excerpt:
“These data document that early postnatal THIM administration causes lasting neurobehavioral impairments and neurochemical alterations in the brain, dependent on dose and sex. If similar changes occur in THIM/mercurial-exposed children, they could contribute do neurodevelopmental disorders.”
Excerpts:
“These data document that exposure to thimerosal during early postnatal life produces lasting alterations in the densities of brain opioid receptors along with other neuropathological changes, which may disturb brain development.”
Except:
“These results suggest that maturational changes in amygdala volume and the binding capacity of [11C]DPN in the amygdala was significantly altered in infant macaques receiving the vaccine schedule. The macaque infant is a relevant animal model in which to investigate specific environmental exposures and structural/functional neuroimaging during neurodevelopment.”
Excerpt:
“Present findings show that THIM administration to suckling or adult rats impairs sensitivity to pain, apparently due to activation the endogenous opioid system.”
Abstract
The appreciation of the existence of a brain disorder as encapsulated in early childhood autism has only come to the fore in recent years. Possibly for this reason, there is no apparent agreement as to which of the symptoms of the disorder, namely emotional disturbances or cognitive defects, are primary, and which are secondary. Nor is there yet either a generally accepted medical treatment or a coherent neurochemical theory of autism. In this article, Jaak Panksepp puts forward the idea that autism is an emotional disturbance arising from an upset in the opiate systems in the brain, and hence proposes, as a possibility, opiate antagonist therapy for the autistic syndrome.
