Autonomic systems
自主神经系统
by Raymond Peat
Historically, functions such as reason, emotion, and instinct were associated with particular nervous structures, and there was a reluctance to think that consciousness, like instinct, could be based on “reflexes.” Eventually, this led to the idea of an autonomous nervous system which produced emotions and adjusted the body's functions, while the “central nervous system” was the seat of conscious thought, perception, and behavior.
从历史上看，理性、情感和本能等功能都与特定的神经结构有关，人们不愿意认为意识和本能一样，是建立在“反射”基础上的。最终，这导致了自主神经系统产生情绪和调整身体功能的想法，而“中枢神经系统”是意识思想、感知和行为的所在地。
Our individual cells have a degree of autonomy, consisting of the ability to sense their situation, integrate stimuli, and act adaptively. Their behavior is intelligently adaptive. The cells that make up the nervous system have this basic capacity for complex adaptive integration, but they also have the specialized role of serving as links between cells, and between cells and the environment.
我们的个体细胞有一定程度的自主权，包括感知环境、整合刺激和适应性行动的能力。它们的行为具有智能适应性。构成神经系统的细胞具有这种复杂的适应整合的基本能力，但它们也具有作为细胞之间以及细胞与环境之间联系的特殊作用。
The integration of the organism is most complete when the energy of each cell is optimal. The “autonomic nervous system,” including nerves that are closely associated with the diverse organs and tissues, is easiest to understand as a system for integrating and optimizing energy throughout the organism.
This view suggests new ways of understanding imbalance in these nervous functions, and the diseases that develop under the imbalanced conditions–e.g., asthma, polycystic ovaries, menopausal symptoms, some skin diseases, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and tumors.
当每个细胞的能量达到最佳状态时，生物体的整合就达到最完整。“自主神经系统”，包括与各种器官和组织密切相关的神经，是最容易理解的一个系统，用于整合和优化整个有机体的能量。
这种观点为理解这些神经功能的不平衡以及在不平衡条件下发生的疾病提供了新的方法。哮喘、多囊卵巢、更年期症状、某些皮肤病、多发性硬化症、心脏病和肿瘤。
Every organ has its own intrinsic nerve net, and the cortex of the brain adjusts each system to meet the adaptive needs of the organism.
每个器官都有自己固有的神经网络，大脑皮层调节每个系统以满足机体的适应需求。
When every cell is functioning optimally, and the organism is adapted to its environment, there is little need for intervention by the “transmitter substances.”
当每个细胞的功能都达到最佳状态，生物体也适应了环境，就不需要“传递物质”的干预了。
People like Walter Cannon and Wilhelm Reich popularized the idea of the autonomic nervous system, but they were just systematizing ideas that had been developing since the beginning of the century. Their views were the context in which Selye’s idea of stress developed.
像沃尔特·坎农和威廉·赖希这样的人普及了自主神经系统的概念，但他们只是将自本世纪初以来一直在发展的思想系统化。他们的观点正是Selye关于压力的观点形成的背景。
The anatomical components of the nervous system that were called the sympathetic (“fight or flight,” adrenergic) system and the parasympathetic (“vegetative”) system are still important factors in physiological thinking, and despite the great complexity that has grown up around them, there is still a tendency to identify the systems with polarities of mood or emotion. The idea of polarities is useful, but it easily leads to error.
神经系统的解剖学组成部分被称为交感神经(“战斗或逃跑”，肾上腺素能)系统和副交感神经(“植物”)系统仍然是生理思维的重要因素，尽管围绕它们产生了巨大的复杂性，但人们仍然倾向于将这些系统与情绪或情绪的极性联系起来。极性的概念是有用的，但它很容易导致错误。
(The sympathetic system includes a chain of ganglia along the spine, and its functions include dilating the pupils and accelerating the heart. The parasympathetic system is also called the cranio-sacral system, from the location of its ganglia, and among its functions are slowing the heart and constricting the pupils. However, despite several decades of research, the actions of “sympathetic” and “parasympathetic” nerves in most organs aren’t understood.)
(交感神经系统包括沿脊柱的神经节链，其功能包括扩大瞳孔和加速心脏。副交感神经系统也被称为颅骶骨系统，从它的神经节位置来看，它的功能包括减慢心脏速度和缩小瞳孔。然而，尽管进行了几十年的研究，大多数器官中的“交感神经”和“副交感神经”的活动仍不为人所知。)
If the “adrenaline side” of the nervous system is responsible for the reactions to pain and threat, reactions of fear and rage, then the opposite side tends to be given attributes such as peace and pleasure, and the fact that these oppositions are often true has led to a climate in which the adrenergic reactions are seen as “bad,” and the opposite reactions as “good.”When adrenalin was identified as an agent of the sympathetic nervous system, there was a search for the “opposing” agent of the parasympathetic system. Histamine was an early candidate, before acetylcholine was discovered to be the main parasympathetic agent. This view of histamine was fostered by the older idea of “trophic nerves,” which easily became identified with the parasympathetic system. When acetylcholine was identified as the transmitter or agent of the parasympathetic system, it tended to take on many of the qualities, including the “trophic” functions, that had grown up around the idea of the parasympathetic system, but the emphasis on acetylcholine led to a general neglect of the associations of histamine, and the mast cells that produce much of it, with the autonomic nervous system. (The current trend seems to be emphasizing a close integration of mast cell function with nervous function.) Nitric oxide has recently been identified as another parasympathetic “transmitter.” Nitric oxide and histamine are both very important factors in degenerative inflammatory diseases, but their association with the parasympathetic nervous system has given them an aura of benevolence.
如果“肾上腺素”的神经系统负责对疼痛的反应和威胁,恐惧和愤怒的反应,然后对面往往是给定的属性,如和平和快乐,事实上,这些对立通常是真正导致气候的肾上腺素的反应被视为“坏”,相反的反应则是“好”。当肾上腺素被确定为交感神经系统的一种作用因子时，人们就开始寻找副交感神经系统的“对立”作用因子。在乙酰胆碱被发现为主要副交感神经毒剂之前，组胺是一个早期的候选药物。这种组胺的观点是由“营养神经”的老观点支持的，这种老观点很容易被认为是副交感神经系统。当乙酰胆碱被确认为发射机或代理的副交感神经系统,它倾向于承担的许多品质,包括“营养”功能,围绕这个想法长大的副交感神经系统,但强调乙酰胆碱使人们普遍忽视关联的组胺,以及产生大量这种物质的肥大细胞和自主神经系统。(目前的趋势似乎是强调肥大细胞功能与神经功能的紧密结合。)一氧化氮最近被认为是另一种副交感神经“递质”。一氧化氮和组织胺在退行性炎症性疾病中都是非常重要的因素，但它们与副交感神经系统的关联给了它们仁慈的预兆。
I think it’s useful to compare the autonomic nervous system with the pituitary, not just because some of the pituitary hormones are called “trophic” hormones (e.g., luteotrophic, adrenocorticotrophic), but because their important adaptive functions can themselves be the cause of serious problems. An excess of the thyroid stimulating hormone, for example, causes degeneration and cancer development in the thyroid gland, and animals deprived of their pituitary gland, but given thyroid, live longer than intact animals.
If slaves are starved and beaten frequently, they aren’t very productive, they don’t live long, and they might rebel. Workers that are healthy and working for a common goal that they understand are more productive. Cells that are well energized perform their functions with minimal cues, but deprived cells that have to be forced to function are likely to die unexpectedly, or to reproduce inappropriately, or to change their identity.
我认为比较自主神经系统和垂体是有用的，不仅因为一些垂体激素被称为“营养”激素(如促黄体激素、促肾上腺皮质激素)，而且因为它们重要的适应功能本身可能是严重问题的原因。例如，甲状腺刺激激素过量会导致甲状腺的退化和癌症，而被剥夺脑下垂体但被给予甲状腺的动物比完好的动物活得更长。
如果奴隶经常挨饿挨打，他们的生产力就会降低，寿命也会缩短，他们可能会反抗。健康的员工为了共同的目标而工作，他们的工作效率更高。那些充满活力的细胞在极少的信号下就能完成它们的功能，但是那些被剥夺了能量的细胞很可能会意外死亡，或者不恰当地繁殖，或者改变它们的身份。
Professors often make a strong impression on their students, but, especially in technical or scientific fields, they usually do this by controlling the discourse, so that radical questioning is excluded.
What they don’t know “isn’t knowledge.” Under the pressure of “getting a professional education,” students appreciate organizing principles and mnemonic devices, but this gives traditional ways of systematizing knowledge tremendous power that, in practice, is far more important than mere experimental results. (Experiments that don’t acknowledge the ruling metaphors are almost universally considered inadmissable, unpublishable.)
教授经常给学生留下深刻的印象，但是，特别是在技术或科学领域，他们通常通过控制话语来做到这一点，因此激进的问题被排除在外。
他们不知道的“不是知识”。在“接受专业教育”的压力下，学生们喜欢组织原则和记忆手段，但这给了传统的知识系统化方法巨大的力量，在实践中，这远比单纯的实验结果重要得多。(几乎所有人都认为，不承认主导隐喻的实验都是不可接受、不可发表的。)
Some obvious questions about the autonomic system have been commonly ignored or minimized by physiologists. If “stress” is the stimulus that causes the sympathetic system to increase its activity, what is the stimulus for increased activity of the parasympathetic system? What accounts for the relative balance between the two sides of the system, or their imbalance? The fact that the answers aren’t obvious has left the questions largely to psychiatrists and psychologists. Wilhelm Reich, who tried to provide answers in terms of developmental interactions between the organism and its environment, found that the question led him to investigate psychosomatic disease, sexual repression, cancer, and fascism, with disastrous results for himself.
一些关于自主神经系统的明显问题通常被生理学家忽略或淡化。如果“压力”是引起交感神经系统活动增加的刺激，那么副交感神经系统活动增加的刺激是什么?是什么导致了系统中两方的相对平衡，还是它们的不平衡?这些问题的答案并不明显，这在很大程度上把问题留给了精神病学家和心理学家。威廉·赖希，试图从有机体及其环境之间的发展相互作用的角度提供答案，发现这个问题引导他去研究心身疾病、性压抑、癌症和法西斯主义，给他自己带来了灾难性的结果。
Chinese medicine was familiar with many of the functions of the autonomic nervous system at a time when western medicine was organized around “the humors.” It’s easy for contemporary “western” people to see that the “winds” and the hot and cold principles of Chinese tradition are metaphors, but they are reluctant to see that their own system has grown up within very similar traditional metaphoric polarities.
在西医围绕“体液”组织的时候，中药已经熟悉了自主神经系统的许多功能。当代“西方人”很容易看到中国传统的“风”和冷热法则都是隐喻，但他们不愿看到自己的体系是在非常相似的传统隐喻两极中成长起来的。
The successes of even a good metaphor can cause people to neglect details that could support a more complete and accurate image of reality.
即使是一个好的隐喻的成功，也会导致人们忽视那些可以支持更完整、更准确的现实形象的细节。
Contemporary science carries a load of bad metaphors, because the educational system doesn’t tolerate a critical attitude. Potentially, a good metaphor (e.g., Vernadsky’s suggestion that an organism is “a whirlwind of atoms”) could blow away many bad metaphors, but the present organization of science is tending in the other direction: Commercial interests are creating a culture in which their metaphors are replacing the traditional science in which there was a certain amount of honest intellectual exploration.
In talking about consciousness, sleep, stress, biological rhythms, aging, and energy, I have often focussed on the efficient use of oxygen for energy production by the mitochondria, i.e., cellular respiration. Every situation demands a special kind of adaptation, and each kind of adaptation requires a special distribution of cellular and organic activity, with its supporting local respiratory activity.
当代科学承载了大量的坏比喻，因为教育系统不能容忍批判的态度。一个好的隐喻(例如，沃尔纳德斯基认为有机体是“原子的旋风”)可能会驱散许多不好的隐喻，但目前的科学组织却倾向于另一个方向:商业利益正在创造一种文化，在这种文化中，他们的隐喻正在取代传统科学，在传统科学中，有一定数量的诚实的智力探索。
在谈到意识、睡眠、压力、生物节律、衰老和能量时，我经常把重点放在线粒体对氧气的有效利用以产生能量，即细胞呼吸。每一种情况都需要一种特殊的适应，而每一种适应都需要一种特殊的细胞和有机活动分布，其支持局部的呼吸活动。
There is a lot of local self-regulation in the adapting organism, for example when the activated tissue produces increased amounts of carbon dioxide, which dilates blood vessels, delivering more oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. But the distribution of excitation, and the harmonious balancing of the organism’s resources and activities, is achieved by the actions of the cortex of the brain, acting on the subordinate nerve nets, adjusting many factors relating to energy production and use.
在适应性的有机体中有很多局部的自我调节，例如，当被激活的组织产生更多的二氧化碳时，这会扩张血管，向组织输送更多的氧气和营养物质。但是，兴奋的分布以及生物体资源和活动的和谐平衡是通过大脑皮层的活动实现的，它作用于从属神经网络，调节与能量生产和使用有关的许多因素。
On the level of the mitochondria, adrenaline and acetylcholine have slightly different effects. (Metabolic studies with isolated mitochondria are so remote from the normal cellular condition that their results are nothing more than a hint of what might be occurring in the cell.) Acetylcholine appears to shift the proportion of the fuels used (increasing the oxidation of alpha-ketoglutarate, with the production of carbon dioxide) and increasing the efficiency of energy conservation (phosphorylation, producing ATP) so that less oxygen is needed, while adrenaline increases the rate of oxygen consumption (and succinate oxidation). This would be consistent with F. Z. Meerson’s conception of the parasympathetic function as one of the “stress limiting” systems.
在线粒体水平上，肾上腺素和乙酰胆碱的作用略有不同。(用分离的线粒体进行的代谢研究与正常的细胞状况相距甚远，其结果只不过是细胞内可能发生情况的一个暗示。)乙酰胆碱似乎改变了燃料的使用比例(增加了α -酮戊二酸的氧化，同时产生二氧化碳)，并提高了能源节约的效率(磷酸化，产生ATP)，因此需要更少的氧气，而肾上腺素会增加氧气消耗(和琥珀酸氧化)的速率。这与F. Z. Meerson将副交感神经功能视为“压力限制”系统之一的概念相一致。
On the level of the whole cell, organ, and organism, the parasympathetic function limits oxygen consumption in a variety of ways, including the reduction of blood flow. Acetylcholine, like histamine and serotonin, activates glycolysis, the conversion of glucose to lactic acid, which provides energy in the absence of oxygen.
在整个细胞、器官和有机体的水平上，副交感神经功能以各种方式限制氧气消耗，包括减少血流。乙酰胆碱，像组胺和血清素一样，激活糖酵解，将葡萄糖转化为乳酸，在缺氧的情况下提供能量。
The effects of a little adrenaline, and a lot of adrenaline, are very different, with a high concentration of adrenaline decreasing the efficiency of phosphorylation. In the stressed heart, this effect of excess adrenaline can be fatal, especially when it is combined with adrenaline’s acceleration of clotting, liberation of fatty acids, and frequently of calcium, and constriction of blood vessels.
Seventy years ago, autonomic control of blood vessels seemed to be a matter of nerve fibers that constrict them, and other fibers that cause them to dilate, but that idea hasn’t worked for a long time.
Ever since I noticed that the students in our physiology lab who tried to use adrenaline to revive their rats weren’t successful, I have wondered about the television shows in which adrenaline is given to patients with heart problems. Under some conditions adrenaline does increase circulation to the heart, but extreme stress doesn’t seem to be among those conditions.
少量肾上腺素和大量肾上腺素的作用是非常不同的，高浓度的肾上腺素会降低磷酸化的效率。在紧张的心脏中，过量肾上腺素的这种影响可能是致命的，特别是当它与肾上腺素加速凝血、脂肪酸的释放、钙的频繁释放和血管收缩结合在一起时。
70年前，血管的自主控制似乎是由神经纤维收缩血管，其他纤维使血管扩张，但这个想法已经行不通很长时间了。
自从我注意到我们生理实验室的学生试图用肾上腺素使他们的老鼠复活却没有成功，我就对电视节目中给有心脏问题的病人注射肾上腺素感到好奇。在某些情况下，肾上腺素确实会增加心脏的循环，但极端的压力似乎不在这些情况之列。
Too much serotonin, histamine, acetylcholine, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, like too much adrenalin, can cause spasms of the coronary arteries, along with disturbances of mitochondrial respiration. In stress, these substances are almost sure to be present in excess. (Anti-serotonin drugs are effective for a variety of heart problems, and other degenerative diseases.)
By increasing the production of lactic acid and the loss of carbon dioxide, exaggerated nervous stimulation (especially the excess of acetylcholine, histamine, and serotonin) can cause a variety of problems, including generalized vasoconstriction and systemic alkalosis, as well as increased intracellular alkalinity. This metabolic pattern is characteristic of many kinds of stress, including cancer. (Elsewhere, I have referred to this pattern as “relative hyperventilation.”) The metabolic effects probably account for some of the “paradoxical”effects of the autonomic agents.
过多的血清素、组胺、乙酰胆碱和多不饱和脂肪酸，就像过多的肾上腺素一样，会引起冠状动脉痉挛，同时干扰线粒体呼吸。在压力下，这些物质几乎肯定会过量存在。(抗血清素药物对各种心脏问题和其他退行性疾病有效。)
通过增加乳酸的产生和二氧化碳的损失，过度的神经刺激(特别是过量的乙酰胆碱、组胺和血清素)可以引起各种问题，包括全身血管收缩和全身碱中毒，以及细胞内碱度的增加。这种代谢模式是包括癌症在内的多种压力的特征。(在其他地方，我将这种模式称为“相对过度通气”)代谢效应可能解释了一些自主药物的“矛盾”效应。
When nutrition and thyroid function, light, atmospheric pressure, and other conditions are favorable, the autonomic transmitters (e.g., acetylcholine, histamine, serotonin, adrenalin) and pituitary hormones and other “signal substances” are kept within safe limits.
当营养和甲状腺功能、光线、大气压等条件有利时，自主递质(如乙酰胆碱、组胺、血清素、肾上腺素)和垂体激素和其他“信号物质”都保持在安全范围内。
Because the substances released from various cells under the influence of the autonomic nerves (histamine and serotonin, for example) stimulate cell division, injuries which produce clots and vascular spasms will also stimulate the formation of new blood vessels, a process that is essential for the adaptation of tissues to prolonged stress.
因为物质释放各种细胞的影响下自主神经(例如,组胺和5 -羟色胺)刺激细胞分裂,损伤产生血栓和血管痉挛也会刺激新血管的形成,这一过程是至关重要的适应组织长期的压力。
These stress-induced agents are appropriately included in the “vegetative” (parasympathetic) nervous system, because they promote vegetation, i.e., the proliferation of substance.
Adrenaline, and the sympathetic nerves, have the opposite function, of restraining cell division, and they also oppose the pro-inflammatory functions of those parasympathetic agents.
这些应激诱导因子被适当地纳入“植物性”(副交感神经)神经系统，因为它们促进植物生长，即物质的增殖。
肾上腺素和交感神经，有相反的功能，抑制细胞分裂，它们也反对副交感神经的促炎功能。
Estrogen tends to shift autonomic balance toward the parasympathetic side, away from the sympathetic/adrenergic. Recalling that stress, hypothyroidism, and aging increase the activity of aromatase in various tissues, with local production of estrogen, and that tissue-bound estrogen stays at a high level in postmenopausal women despite the lower level of estrogen in the serum, it’s worthwhile looking at the effects of estrogen on the various components of the so-called autonomic nervous system.
雌激素倾向于将自主神经平衡转移到副交感神经侧，而不是交感神经/肾上腺素能。回顾压力、甲状腺功能减退和衰老增加了各种组织中的芳香化酶活性，局部产生雌激素，尽管血清中的雌激素水平较低，但绝经后妇女的组织结合雌激素仍保持在较高水平，雌激素对所谓的自主神经系统的不同组成部分的影响值得一看。
One injection of estrogen can induce a large increase in the number of sympathetic nerves in the ovaries. At menopause, a similar “invasion” of sympathetic nerves occurs. The polycystic ovary (which is even more common after menopause than before, and some studies have found the condition in 20% of premenopausal women) responds to estrogen by producing nerve growth factor(s), and growing a large number of new sympathetic nerves. Although the hyperestrogenism associated with the polycystic ovary syndrome has many harmful effects, the invasion of the ovary by adrenergic nerves apparently protects it from the development of cancer.
注射一次雌激素可以引起卵巢交感神经数量的大量增加。在更年期，交感神经也会发生类似的“侵袭”。多囊卵巢(绝经后比绝经前更常见，一些研究发现20%的绝经前女性有这种情况)通过产生神经生长因子对雌激素作出反应，并生长大量新的交感神经。尽管与多囊卵巢综合征相关的雌激素分泌过多有许多有害影响，但肾上腺素能神经对卵巢的侵袭显然可以防止癌症的发展。
Parasympathetic nerves, pituitary hormones and mast cells activate the ovaries. The number of mast cells in the ovaries is increased by the pituitary hormones (including the thyroid stimulating hormone), and by estrogen (Jaiswal and Krishna, 1996). Estrogen is the most potent of these hormones in causing the cells to release histamine. The overgrowth of the sympathetic nerves in the polycystic ovary causes the number and activity of mast cells to decrease, possibly as a protective adaptation against excessive stimulation from the many pro-inflammatory factors. The mast cells are needed for the follicles to rupture, so their suppression prevents ovulation.
副交感神经、垂体激素和肥大细胞激活卵巢。卵巢中肥大细胞的数量通过垂体激素(包括促甲状腺激素)和雌激素增加(Jaiswal和Krishna, 1996)。雌激素是这些激素中最有效的，它能使细胞释放组胺。多囊卵巢交感神经的过度生长导致肥大细胞的数量和活动减少，可能是对许多促炎因子过度刺激的一种保护性适应。肥大细胞是卵泡破裂所必需的，所以肥大细胞的抑制会阻止排卵。
The nervous system is closely involved in controlling the growth of tissues, and it has been argued (R.E. Kavetsky reviewed the subject in his book, emphasizing the role of depression in development of cancer) that cancer results from reduced activity of the sympathetic nerves, or unopposed action of the parasympathetic system. That stress has a role in cancer is acknowledged by the scientific establishment, but the nervous system’s direct involvement in the regulation of cellular metabolism, cell division, and other processes that are central to the cancerous state is either flatly denied or simply ignored.
神经系统密切参与控制组织的发展,它已被认为(右眼Kavetsky回顾了主题在他的书中,强调抑郁的作用在癌症的发展),癌症的结果减少交感神经的活动,或无对手的行动的副交感神经系统。科学机构承认压力在癌症中有作用，但神经系统直接参与细胞代谢、细胞分裂和其他对癌症状态至关重要的过程的调节，要么被断然否认，要么被完全忽视。
Although mast cells have been known to be a common component of tumors for many years, it is only recently that antihistamines and other antiinflammatory drugs have been recognized as valuable therapies in cancer. The whole issue of the role of nerves in tumor development and physiology has been submerged by the mystique of the “intrinsically bad cancer cell.”
虽然多年来肥大细胞一直是肿瘤的常见成分，但直到最近，抗组胺药和其他抗炎药物才被认为是治疗癌症的有价值的疗法。神经在肿瘤发展和生理中的作用的整个问题已经被“本质上坏的癌细胞”的神秘所淹没。
In Alzheimer’s disease, there has been a great investment in the doctrine that drugs to promote the function of cholinergic (acetylcholine forming) nerves will restore lost mental function, or at least retard the progression of the disease. The success of anticholinergic drugs in treating several degenerative brain diseases is probably embarrassing to the companies whose cholinergic-intensifying drugs aren’t very successful. Conveniently for them, these formerly “anticholinergic” drugs are now being called anti-excitotoxic or anti-glutamatergic drugs. There is no serious conflict in the terminology, since the cholinergic processes (like the serotonergic processes) are closely associated with excitotoxic nerve damage. The cholinergic drugs will probably be sold as long as their patents are effective, and then will be quietly forgotten.
在阿尔茨海默病中，有一种学说，即促进胆碱能(乙酰胆碱形成)神经功能的药物将恢复失去的精神功能，或至少延缓疾病的进展，这方面投入了大量资金。抗胆碱能药物在治疗几种退行性脑疾病方面的成功，可能会让那些胆碱能强化药物不太成功的公司感到尴尬。为了方便他们，这些以前的“抗胆碱能”药物现在被称为抗兴奋毒性或抗谷氨酸药物。术语上没有严重的冲突，因为胆碱能过程(如血清素能过程)与兴奋毒性神经损伤密切相关。只要这些胆碱能药物的专利有效，它们可能就会被出售，然后就会被悄悄遗忘。
The modern conception of pharmacology, with receptors and transmitters turning functions on or off, has turned into an unproductive and dangerous scholasticism. No one will ever successfully count the number of transmitter angels dancing on the variable sites of the variable receptor molecules. The functional “meaning” of a receptor or transmitter changes according to circumstances, and the effect of activating a particular nerve depends on surrounding conditions, and on preceding conditions. Each cell integrates stimuli adaptively.
药理学的现代概念，由受体和递质来开启或关闭功能，已变成一种徒劳而危险的经院哲学。没有人能成功地数出有多少发射天使在可变受体分子的可变位点上跳舞。受体或递质的功能“意义”会随着环境的变化而变化，而激活某一特定神经的效果取决于周围的条件和之前的条件。每个细胞适应地整合刺激。
If no reflex is simply mechanical and innate, then all reflexes are conditional. (M. Merleau-Ponty argued against the validity of the reflex concept itself, because of this conditionality.) P. K. Anokhin’s concept of the “Acceptor of Action” (described in my book, Mind and Tissue) provides an image in which we can see the “set-points” for the relatively “autonomic” reflexes as reflections of the general needs of the organism. The local tissue reflexes, the organ reflexes, the spinal reflexes, etc., are variable, according to their energetic resources, and according to the way in which they are organized under the influence of the cerebral cortex and the environment.
The reality is more complex than the philosophy of the drug industry imagines, but the solutions of problems can be much simpler, if we think in terms of energetic support, rather than the over-concretized interventions of the pharmacologists. In hypothyroidism, it is common for there to be an excess of adrenalin/noradrenalin, serotonin, histamine, and some of the pituitary hormones. Correcting thyroid function can immediately correct many problems, but especially when the energy deficiency has caused anatomical adjustments (redistribution of blood vessels and mast cells, for example) it’s important to make the environment supportive in as many ways as possible.
如果没有一种反射是简单的机械性和先天性的，那么所有的反射都是有条件的。(梅洛-庞蒂反对反射概念本身的有效性，因为条件性。)P. K. Anokhin的“行动的接受者”的概念(在我的书《心灵与组织》中有描述)提供了一个形象，在这个形象中，我们可以看到相对“自主”反射的“设定值”，反映了有机体的一般需要。局部组织反射、器官反射、脊髓反射等，根据它们的能量来源和在大脑皮层和环境影响下的组织方式，是可变的。
现实比制药业的哲学想象的要复杂得多，但如果我们从积极支持的角度出发，而不是药理学家过于具体的干预，问题的解决可能会简单得多。在甲状腺功能减退症中，肾上腺素/去甲肾上腺素、血清素、组胺和一些垂体激素过量是很常见的。纠正甲状腺功能可以立即纠正许多问题，但特别是当能量不足导致解剖结构调整(例如，血管和肥大细胞的重新分配)时，让环境尽可能多地支持很重要。
In polycystic ovaries, menopausal symptoms, arthritis, angina pectoris, multiple sclerosis, some kinds of dementia, migraine, and emphysema, the relief achieved with a simple improvement of cellular energy can be rapid and complete. Presumably a similar process of biological reorganization is involved in the occasional spontaneous regression of tumors.
在多囊卵巢、更年期症状、关节炎、心绞痛、多发性硬化症、某些类型的痴呆、偏头痛和肺气肿，通过简单的改善细胞能量就能迅速而彻底地缓解。推测一个类似的生物重组过程也参与了偶尔自发的肿瘤消退。
Although I don’t think the autonomic nervous system, with its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, exists in the way it has traditionally been conceived, the idea can be useful if we think of using drugs and other factors in ways that tend to “quiet an overactive autonomic nervous system.”
尽管我不认为具有交感神经和副交感神经的自主神经系统以传统的方式存在，但如果我们考虑使用药物和其他因素，以趋向于“平静过度活跃的自主神经系统”的方式，这个想法可能是有用的。