Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Phobia Lecture

After finishing the call with Xu Xiaowen, Luo Fei hung up the phone to Zhang Yu, told him the general situation, and asked if there were any latest autopsy results.After chatting, I found out that Zhou Liwei was also conducting autopsy with Zhang Yu at the Forensic Medicine Center.Feeling that talking on the phone was difficult, Luo Fei simply set off to the forensic center. It was completely dark when we reached our destination.Although it was midsummer in August, the air-conditioning in the morgue still made Luo Fei shiver. "Oh, it's really cold in here, can it be twenty degrees?" Luo Fei gasped, crossed his arms, and stroked his bare arms with his palms.

Zhang Yuying stepped forward, handed over a long-sleeved white coat, then made a silent gesture, and pouted in the direction of the mortuary table. Zhou Liwei was standing in front of the mortuary table, leaning over to face Yu Ziqiang's naked body.His eyes were piercing, without squinting, he didn't respond to Luo Fei's arrival, obviously he was concentrating on some important work. Luo Fei stepped forward gently, only to find that the deceased's hair had been completely shaved, and a piece of skull on the left side of the top of the head was also removed, opening a "skylight" like an operation.Zhou Liwei held a flashlight in his left hand, and with his right hand, he inserted a long and thin metal object from the "skylight" into the brain of the deceased.

"The upper six areas of the left brain, this is the part that controls the body to produce various emotions." Zhang Yu put his mouth next to Luo Fei's ear and explained softly. Luo Fei nodded, and saw that the metal object in Zhou Liwei's hand stayed in the brain of the deceased for a while, and then slowly withdrew. The head of the metal object was a small flat spoon, which contained a small amount of the brain of the deceased. organize. Zhou Liwei put down the flashlight, picked up a glass vial, and put the brain tissue he just got into it.After all this was done, he let out a long breath, and greeted Luo Fei with a nod: "Captain Luo, hello!"

Luo Fei noticed that there was a fine layer of sweat on his forehead, it seemed that the work just now was quite exhausting. "I thought that you doctors were only interested in patients, but I didn't expect you to also have a lot of research on corpses." Luo Fei started with a half-joking remark. "Then your thinking is biased." Zhou Liwei shook his head and corrected him solemnly, "Healing patients is always only a part of our work. In my opinion, preventing the occurrence of diseases is actually more important." "Yes!" Luo Fei exclaimed, as if he had met a close friend, "In this regard, the two professions of doctors and policemen are related. Law enforcement officers need to do more than just catch criminals. It's more important to avoid crime."

Zhou Liwei showed a knowing smile: "So I came here at four o'clock in the afternoon. To prevent the occurrence of medical cases, pathological research must be carried out. From this perspective, corpses have more research than patients. Value, because in the body of the deceased, various disease elements are undoubtedly the most sufficient." "So, have you found anything so far?" This is the question Luo Fei is most concerned about. Zhou Liwei shook the glass vial in his hand: "A detailed biochemical analysis is still needed." "Biochemical analysis?" Luo Fei looked at the gray-white brain matter in the bottle with great interest, "Will mental stimulation also leave traces that can be traced?"

"Of course. In your brain, any thinking and any emotion are actually controlled by chemical reactions. Various chemical substances secreted by the glands stimulate the brain and form various forms of human body. mental response. To give a realistic example, you know about depression, right?" Luo Fei nodded, motioning for the other party to continue talking. "Many depressed patients deny that they are sick, refuse to take medicine or receive related treatment. They think that as long as they want to think about psychological things, it will be fine. This is completely wrong. From a pathological point of view, depression is actually a brain disorder. The lesions of the lesions are prominently manifested as a decrease in the function of central monoamine neurotransmitters, especially norepinephrine and 5-hydroxytryptamine, and these two substances play a role in regulating and stabilizing emotions in the human brain. Therefore, in the face of this For mental illnesses, pure psychological counseling is not enough, and it must be combined with drug treatment." Zhou Liwei talked eloquently, explaining a complex medical knowledge in a simple way.

Luo Fei realized something, and asked with bright eyes: "What about the current case? What kind of results might your analysis bring?" "My goal is to try my best to analyze the abnormal chemical components in the brain matter of the deceased. These components will be related to the cause of death. In this way, we will have the basis for pathological analysis." Zhou Liwei replied briefly. Luo Fei frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I'm sorry, I don't understand. We already know that the cause of this person's death was excessive fright. As a psychiatrist, you should know which chemical substances stimulate the brain It will make people have a physiological reaction of fear, right?"

"Of course I know, and I understand where your question lies: since I already know what the chemical ingredients that cause fear are, what's the point of my next analysis?" Zhou Liwei looked at Luo Fei with piercing eyes, "Luo Fei Captain, I admire the initiative and logic of your thinking, if you engage in scientific research, you will definitely make achievements." Luo Fei smiled: "This is also due to your explanation, which is clear and focused. I am eager to learn more knowledge now." "Yeah." Zhou Liwei pondered, then he put down the vial and rubbed his hands, "Okay, then I'll give a brief lecture here, about the pathology of fear."

Luo Fei pricked up his ears and listened carefully.Zhang Yu on the side also looked engrossed at this time. "Fear is a chain reaction in the brain. It begins with external stimuli and ends with various strong physiological reactions." Zhou Liwei began his explanation, "These physiological reactions include shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, muscle Nervous, etc. External stimuli can be varied, it can be a spider sliding down from the roof, a dagger on your neck, a door suddenly opened, or any unknown, will make you feel A mysterious thing under threat." Zhou Liwei paced to the front of the deceased and pointed to the "skylight" above the corpse's head with his finger: "Fear is controlled by an almond-shaped structure in the brain, which is called the amygdala—probably at this position. Of course it's not on the surface, And in the deep places, I have to use special tools to reach. In that bottle is the amygdala sample I just collected. It receives information from multiple areas of the brain and weighs its importance. When the situation is dire enough , the amygdala initiates an automatic fear response through central 'output neurons', causing physiological changes.

Studying slices of the brain, scientists took a closer look at the process neurons in the central amygdala use to transmit fear signals.It turned out that vasopressin, a hormone secreted by a gland in the brain, increases the activity of output neurons in a region of the central amygdala.That is, vasopressin is the chemical that triggers the fear response in the human brain. " "Then in these samples, the content of vasopressin must be very high?" Luo Fei squinted his eyes and carefully looked at the brain body in the glass vial, as if he could discover many mysteries with the naked eye.

"It's likely to be like this." Zhou Liwei smiled slightly, but changed the topic again, "However, some interesting situations cannot be ruled out." "Huh?" Luo Fei understood the key point, raised his head and looked at the other party intently. "If there is no abnormal vasopressin in the brain sample, but there are a lot of other chemicals, these substances stimulate the amygdala like vasopressin, but it is not produced by the human brain. Produced by glandular secretions..." "I know!" Luo Fei clapped his hands excitedly, "That can also cause people to fear, but this kind of fear is not caused by real things, but a kind of external chemical stimulation, that is - hallucinations! " "Devil's foot!" Zhang Yu obviously understood the reason behind it, and he immediately remembered the story Luo Fei told about Sherlock Holmes. "That's right. By figuring out the composition and source of this chemical substance, we can grasp the pathological principle that has caused extreme fear to many people in the past two days, so as to carry out corresponding treatment or prevent the recurrence of the case." Zhou Liwei said, At the same time, he held the vial in his hand and looked at it, with a smug look. "Then, since there are hormones that stimulate the amygdala, is there any substance that can inhibit the activity of the amygdala?" Luo Fei rubbed his chin, thinking about another question. Zhou Liwei's eyes were not only admiring, but even surprised: "Captain Luo, I have to admit that every step of your thinking hits the crux of the problem! The glands of the human brain can also secrete another hormone, It's called oxytocin, and it suppresses the activity of neurons in the amygdala." "That is to say, if oxytocin can be synthesized, we will find a way to alleviate the human body's fear, and maybe even cure those patients who are schizophrenic due to fear?" At this moment, even Zhang Yu's eyes flashed brightly. "Oxytocin cannot be artificially synthesized. However, there are some chemical substitutes. Coincidentally, I have been engaged in research in this area for the past two years. And this is my achievement." Zhou Liwei As he spoke, he reached into his white robe and took out a small medicine paper bag from the pocket of his jacket. It could be seen that there were some powdery substances in it. "Since there are results, why don't you help those patients?" Luo Fei asked puzzled. "This is just a laboratory result, and it is far from clinical application. We only know that it has the effect of suppressing fear, and we don't know about other possible side effects. To be put into use, it must go through a long process of drug testing. This Very helpless, isn't it? As a doctor, he is sure to treat a certain disease, but he can't operate it. Captain Luo, it's like your police, even if you know someone has committed a crime, but you can't arrest him without evidence, this embarrassment is similar of." Luo Fei smiled again, and the other party's words were also very accurate in terms of the point of entry of the question, which made the communication between them very easy. Zhang Yu was originally a medical student, and Zhou Liwei’s explanations sounded more beneficial to him. He sighed in admiration: “The achievements of modern medicine are really amazing. Seemingly unexplainable and unsolvable problems, listen to Zhou Liwei’s explanation. When the teacher said this, it seemed that there was a clue." "No, things are far from as simple as you imagined." Luo Fei's tone became serious again, "I received a call this afternoon, and the content of the call will confuse you very much." "What phone call?" Zhang Yu opened his eyes wide, looking curious and worried. Zhou Liwei was not as excited as Zhang Yu: "You mean the call from Yunnan?" Luo Fei was taken aback for a moment, then he understood: "She also called you? So, you already know the prophecy." Zhou Liwei nodded sadly. "What do you think?" Luo Fei asked for the other party's opinion. As a university professor who has returned from studying abroad, such absurd things will probably be regarded as nonsense, right? But Zhou Liwei's answer was somewhat beyond Luo Fei's expectation. "I've already booked a ticket, and I'll fly to Yunnan early tomorrow morning." He said solemnly.