I describe the work that influence my 2013 Fulbright project at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. Trends in physiology research in the Soviet Union and the United States finally converged after a period disrupted collaboration to create a new holistic understanding of disease states.

1. Fulbright Research Fellowship to Russia
• Institute of
Experimental
Medicine
• The effects of early
life stress and
immune challenge
on behavioral
development

2. Background: Pavlov Physiology Department
• Founded in 1890, the
Institute was funded by the
sale of vaccines
• Venue of Ivan Pavlov’s
Psychological Conditioning
Experiments
• Currently, a government-
funded institution with life
sciences focus

3. Brain-Immune Interactions
• Physiology Research
– Interaction between early life
inflammation (immune
system) and brain
development
• It was thought that the
brain was completely
protected from an
activated immune system

4. Soviet Science
• Building on Pavlov’s famous
conditioning experiments, Sergey
Metalnikov trained the immune
system to respond more or less
strongly to a foreign particle
• It was only 50 years later than
American scientists (Ader and
Cohen) set out to disprove
Metalnikov, but their results
supported his findings

5. The Metalnikov Experiment
• Injections of tapioca paired
with scratch + foreign
material to evoke immune
response
• Conditioning paradigm
– Tapioca caused massive
immune response

6. Consequences of Isolated Science
• 50 years without collaboration on immune-nervous held back
progress
• Science diplomacy was promoted, but consistent
collaboration between Soviet and American laboratories
never existed

7. Dogma Overturned
• Brain-Immune
Interactions
– Alzheimer’s Disease*
– Diabetes*
– Autism*
– Bipolar Disorder**
– Schizophrenia**
– Depression**
*Dixon-Salazar TJ et al, (2014). MHC Class I Limits Hippocampal Synapse
Density by Inhibiting Neuronal Insulin Receptor Signaling. J Neuro ,
34(35): 11844-56.
**Webster MJ et al, (2001). Immunohistochemical Localization of
Phosphorylated Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in the Prefrontal Cortex and
Hippocampus from Patients with Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and
Depression. Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 15(4):388-400.

8. Dogma Overturned
• 80+ years after initial
Metalnikov experiment
• Barriers
– Political Boundaries
• Weak collaboration, failure
to reconcile conflicting
approaches and theories
– Systemic Issues
• Institutional structures that
inhibit/encourage innovation

9. Philosophical Differences
• Brain-Immune Separation vs. Psychoneuroimmunology
– New understanding encourages an holistic approach to
studying disease states