NBB Summer Program in Paris

A parade through both the intriguing and the bizarre, the curious and stomach-churning, our visit to the Musée Fragonard de l’Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort was truly a mind-bending experience. Our guide, a veterinary student himself, lead us through the so-called “cabinets of curiosities,” a rather popular display to possess among Parisian elite in the past. These cabinets including both non-human animal and human anatomies. Some, such as stomachs, digestive tracts, and other organs, were simply replicas or molds that had been plastered and painted to show anatomical distinctions. In addition, there were several skeletal figures ranging from smaller animals, like cats, to larger animals, like giraffes and camels. One particular skeleton that stood out to me was that of a dog with “bone-on-bone” caused by a lung infection. The specific mechanistic cause was unknown but seeing how thick the dogs’ legs had become with the layers upon layers of bone was incredibly intriguing. One new thing we learned how vastly veterinary science has changed in expanded in a mere century alone. Our guide mentioned how in the past doctors would merely apply human medical science to animals, but since animals have such differing systems from humans, the veterinary school was founded, initially in the center of Paris, then later moved to the city outskirts, in order to further explore how to treat animals specifically.

In addition, some displays contained formaldehyde jars with actual body parts, including tissue, genitals, stomachs, craniums, and more kept intact via various preservation methods. At this point, I noticed that myself in particular, as well as a few of my fellow students had to step outside for air or sit down because we started feeling rather queasy. After returning home and still not feeling well, one of my roommates mentioned how the odor of formaldehyde can make some people feel ill, even long after leaving the presence of the chemical. This led me to an article describing the psychophysical relationship between formaldehyde odor and irritation response in healthy non-smokers (Kulle, 2008). The study conducted utilized a 19 subject sample that were exposed to various concentration of formaldehyde (HCHO) over a 3-day period and asked each subject to report their subjective symptoms. The researchers found that the threshold of HCHO of just 0.5 ppm of exposure could cause an odor sensation that may make some feel sick and increasing exposure could cause eye irritation or even nose/throat irritation.

Knowing this, it’s curious to consider how the formaldehyde potentially affected only some of us in the museum, while others remained completely unfazed and continued to the end of the exhibition without any problem.

References:

Kulle, T. J. (1993). Acute odor and irritation response in healthy nonsmokers with formaldehyde exposure. Inhalation Toxicology, 5(3), 323–332. https://doi.org/10.3109/08958379308998389

A pleasant walk from the 11^th Arrondissement to the 20^th Arrondissement landed our NBB class at one of Paris’s most unique tourist attractions: Le Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. Opened in 1804, it is the resting place of many famous people, such as Oscar Wilde, Eugene Delacroix, and Sarah Bernhardt. It attracts millions of visitors yearly, making it one of the most visited cemeteries in the world. Although I was skeptical of walking through a cemetery on a beautiful afternoon like today, it provided me and my fellow peers the perfect opportunity to explore and discover the hidden beauty of the cemetery.

Le Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise is not not only home to famous authors and actresses but also notable scientists. One famous scientist buried in this cemetery is Claude Bernard who made significant contributions to the field of neuroscience during the 19^th century. Bernard was one of the first scientists to discover how the sympathetic nerve and chorda tympani are involved in vasoconstriction and vasodilation, respectively. Bernard also worked with antagonistic innervations and curare, a paralyzing agent, and found that it inhibits nerve stimulation of muscles, leading to research of asphyxia and anesthetics. Most importantly, his work with curare provided the basis of the neuron theory and laid the foundation for the future of neuroscience (Gomes & Engelhardt, 2014).

It is fascinating to learn about the history of neuroscience through the places we visit in Paris. I feel as if everywhere I look in Paris, there is a building or a monument or a statue that represents the history and culture of Paris. It is important to learn about scientists like Bernard because without him, the field of neuroscience would not be where it is today. Until Bernard’s research in the 1800’s, little was known about how the brain and muscles were connected. Now, there is technology such as the brain-machine interface that uses the electrical activity in the brain to guide a computer mouse or robotic limb.

Being able to see his place of burial puts into perspective how far neuroscience has come in the past 200 years. Bernard’s innovation at the time may have seemed preposterous, but with today’s discussion of head transplants in neuroethics, I’ve come to realize that no idea is ever too radical.

References:

Gomes, M. D., & Engelhardt, E. (2014). Claude Bernard: Bicentenary of birth and his main contributions to neurology. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 72(4), 322-5. https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282×20130239

On Wednesday May 25^th, our class went to a cheese tasting at a fromagerie. After our final class of the day, we all took the metro together from the Accent Center (where we have our classes) to Monbleu. I went cheese tasting once with my family on vacation, but the cheeses offered were processed, familiar cheeses, so trying French cheese was a new and exciting experience for me. During this experience, I was able to try raw-milk cheese, an experience I would not have been able to have in the United States. Although I did not love every cheese I tried, I enjoyed being able to taste French cheeses and immerse myself in the culture of France, my home for the next 5 weeks.

As for the connection with class, the first research article we reviewed in NBB 402W was a paper about comfort foods and stress response in male rats. Previous studies showed that comfort eating led to less of a stress response in both male and female rats when given sucrose, which brought up the question of whether the macronutrient content or the palatability of the food led to the altered stress response. The study we read used cheese to determine that the palatability of the food was responsible for the decreased stress response in rats (Fourman et al., 2021). This preliminary study can lead to further studies regarding stress, comfort food, and obesity. If the palatability of food causes stress reduction in rats, could this be the same in humans? And if so, could healthier alternatives be substituted for standard comfort food (cookies, cakes, etc.)?

Another study found that Gouda cheese intake had a beneficial effect on stressed mice in recovering recognition ability. The researchers also noticed changes to internal microbiota, which suggests that the bioactive ingredients in cheese may improve mood and brain function. (Yun et al., 2020). The research in this study connects to French culture because the French diet relies heavily on cheese, meat, and wine, many foods that Americans would associate with disease and early death. Yet, citizens of France have a lifespan 3.5 years greater than that of people in living the United States. Because the study found that Gouda cheese intake may improve mood and brain function, this could be a large part of the Parisian’s longer lifespans.

Citations:

Fourman, S., Buesing, D., Gervin, S., Nashawi, S., & Ulrich-Lai, Y.M. (2021). Limited cheese intake reduces HPA axis and behavioral stress responses in male rats, Physiol. Behav. 242 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113614

Yun, B., Yoo, J. Y., Park, M. R., Ryu, S., Lee, W. J., Choi, H. J., Kang, M. K., Kim, Y., & Oh, S. (2020). Ingestion of Gouda Cheese Ameliorates the Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress in Mice. Food science of animal resources, 40(1), 145–153. https://doi.org/10.5851/kosfa.2019.e81

By Ally Grubman

Today, the class went to visit Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise in the 20th arrondissement. This was an incredibly interesting and out-of-the-ordinary experience. We walked from the Accent Center (where we have our classes) to the cemetery. There, we strolled through the beautiful and intricate burial grounds of the people buried there.

In regards to our classes, many notable neuroscientists were buried at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. Some of these included Jean Pierre Flourens, a pioneer in psychology and neuroscience. One of his major contributions was within the sphere of cerebral localizations and brain functionality (Pearce, 2009). Mainly, he was known for the development and use of ablation methods to see if the different parts of the brain had different functions. Ablation is a technique done by burning, freezing, or removing tissue (in Flourens’s case, removing) in order to kill or get rid of it. He used this to investigate previous assertions from Franz Gall. Gall concluded through his research that the brain had distinct and specific functions. Flourens, however, found that this was not the case, and instead perceived that the brain worked as a whole, coining the term “cerebral equipotentiality” (Pearce, 2009).

This was novel at the time (the early to mid-1800s) and helped lay the groundwork for future neuroscientists. Being where he was buried and learning about his life helped put into perspective how far we have come since then. His discoveries were groundbreaking at the time and impressive, even today. 

Since his research, the neuroscience community has come a long way, but even so, there is still a lot about the brain structure-function relationship that is unknown to us. Both our 402W and neuroethics classes give us an understanding and inside look into the quickly-developing field of neuroscience. In the classes, we discuss new research being presented and upcoming and previous ethical questions asked. This relates directly to the life and career of Jean Piette Flourens as a psychologist and neuroscientist. He made strides in his area, despite being ridiculed for it, and made advancements that seemed impossible at the time. This is something that continues to happen today with new research and medical breakthroughs always around the corner. His research was highly criticized at first, which it seems all of the new research has (something that we have learned so far in neuroethics). Having the chance to see his burial site and learn about his life was an amazing and eye-opening opportunity!

References:

Pearce, J. M. S. (2009, March 17). Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens (1794–1867) and cortical localization. European Neurology, 311-314. https://doi.org/10.1159/000206858.