"Traditionally, studies and textbooks in Neurology or Psychiatry, as well as allied disciplines, deal with proximate causes of diseases and therapies, but remain mute or minimally interested in their ultimate causes including the phylogeny and adaptive significance of disease manifestations. Yet, as clinicians or basic researchers, we are conscious of potential evolutionary roots of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, often offering a rudimentary explanation but never delving deeply into the current role of evolutionary science as it relates to health and disease. We may miss appreciation of the role of adaptive properties, evolutionarily based neuronal circuitries, unbalanced cellular energy demands, and the potential health consequences of residual syndromic behaviors that were possibly useful in early times of human development, but presently are obsolete and pathological. The problem is amplified, because there is often no interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and evolutionary biology onone side and clinical sciences on the other side. However, the evolutionary tracing back of disease pathways may disclose unexpected insights and trigger the design of innovative research as well as propel the development of new therapeutic interventions. There could also be a better apprehension of compensatory behaviors, both at the cellular level as well as the systemic the behavioural levels, that could be the expected fruits of such collaborations. So far scientists fall short in modeling the complexity of human (social) life, human language, or manual dexterity, and mental or emotional behaviors that typify human neurological or psychological function and dysfunction. Finally, there remain obstacles in the form of poor animal modeling for human brain diseases and for human longevity. The present book aims to fill these gaps by presenting an evolutionary view of neurological and psychiatric conditions that is meant to complement and enrich existing medical perspectives"--
Richly illustrated with figures and examples and supplemented with a glossary of terms, The Evolutionary Roots of Human Brain Diseases assembles recent findings in clinical neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and cellular biology to elucidate the origins of human brain diseases and how evolution has given rise to exclusive impacts on brain health only in humans. The book is succinct, up-to-date, and written by researchers across numerous disciplines, making it a compulsory read for clinical neurologists, psychologists, and all medical researchers interested in the brain.
The book's 22 chapters cover basic science concepts behind cerebral cellular specificities or human-specific network developments, detailed discussions of neurological or psychiatric diseases and their clinical expression with an evolutionary focus, the newest imaging techniques to study the brain, future medication developments, as well as cultural and societal repercussions. Evolutionary concepts ranging from genetic pleiotropic antagonism to disease remnants of ancient behaviours crucial for survival are also presented. Insightful and innovative in its approach, this book offers a fascinating interdisciplinary dialogue on the potential repercussions of ongoing human brain evolution.
The Evolutionary Roots of Human Brain Diseases assembles recent findings in clinical neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and cellular biology to elucidate the origins of human brain diseases and how evolution has given rise to exclusive impacts on brain health only in humans. The book is succinct, up-to-date, and written by researchers across numerous disciplines, making it a compulsory read for clinical neurologists, psychologists, and all medical researchers interested in the brain.
Foreword by Sten Grillner
Introduction by the Editors, Nico J. Diederich, Martin Brüne, Katrin Amunts,
Christopher G. Goetz
Part I: Human Brain Evolution: From Anatomy to Function
Chapter 1: Human Telencephalization
Katrin Amunts and Felix Ströckens
Chapter 2: Evolutionary Aspects of Glial Expansion
Pierre Magistretti, Patrick Hof , Corrado Cali, and Nicole Ackermans
Chapter 3: The Contribution of Mitochondrial Evolution and Dysfunction to
Neurodegeneration
Anne Grünewald, Sandro Pereira, and Kobi Wasner
Chapter 4: Intrinsic Templates for Neurodegenerations Featuring
Disease-specific Axonal or Dendritic Vulnerability
Toshiki Uchihara
Chapter 5: Differences in Brain Gene Expression Between Humans and Primates
Geneviève Konopka and Emre Caglayan
Chapter 6: Adapative Archaic Introgression
Olga Dolgova and Oscar Lao
Chapter 7: Goal-directed and Habitual Behaviors: Anatomical and Functional
Circuits in Health and Neurological Disease
Ledia F. Hernandez and Ignacio Obeso
Part II: How Human Brain Diseases Are Impacted By Human Evolution
Chapter 8: Alzheimer's Disease, the Parietal Lobes, and the Evolution of the
Human Genus
Emiliano Bruner and Heidi I.L. Jacobs
Chapter 9: Parkinson's Disease - Overstrain Focused of Basal Ganglia and
Brainstem Nuclei
Nico J. Diederich and Christopher G. Goetz
Chapter 10: Brain Diseases Associated with Unstable Repeats
Peng Jin, Katharine Shelly, and Emily G. Allen
Chapter 11: The Properties of Cortico-Motoneuronal Connections and Their
Evolutionary Significance for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Roger Lemon
Chapter 12: REM Sleep Behavior Disorder - Nocturnal Replay of a "Fight and
Flee"
Nico Diederich and Isabelle Arnulf
Chapter 13: Mood Disorders: An Evolutionary Psycho-Neuro-Immunological
Approach
Markus J Rantala Javier I. Borráz-León
Chapter 14: Schizophrenia - Embracing the Spectrum
John S. Allen
Chapter 15: Williams Syndrome and Autism - Dysfunction of Frontal Networks
Katerina Semendeferi and Isabel August
Chapter 16: ADHD - An Evolutionary View
Annie Swanepoel
Chapter 17: Addiction - Diverted Reward and Motivation Principles
Roger Sullivan and Edward Hagen
Part 3: Consequences and perspectives on research and clinical sciences
Chapter 18: Conditions of Comparative Brain Connectomics
Kathleen Rockland, Daniel Zachlod, and Katrin Amunts
Chapter 19: Are Evolutionary Concepts Helfpul in Designing Preventive
Strategies for Brain Diseases?
Gilberto Levy and Bruce Levin
Chapter 20: Evolutionary Aspects of Neuro-Psychopharmocology
Martin Brüne, Riadh Abed, and Paul St. John-Smith
Chapter 21: Ongoing Human Evolution?
Frank Rühli, Maciej Henneberg, and Nicole Bender
Chapter 22: Human Cultural Evolution Outpaces Biological Evolution: A Brain
Connectomic Approach
Jean-Pierre Changeux
Chapter 23: Concluding Remarks and Future Directions
Martin Brüne, Katrin Amunts, Nico J. Diederich, and Christopher G. Goetz
Nico J. Diederich, MD, is Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the University of Cologne, Germany, and a Consultant in Neurology at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg. His research and clinical work focus on movement disorders particularly Parkinson's disease (PD), from visual deficits to sleep syndromes or dysautonomia.
Martin Brüne, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Division of Social Neuropsychiatry and Evolutionary Medicine at the LWL University-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. He was previously a Visiting Research Scientist at the Centre for the Mind, a joint venture of the Australian National University and University of Sydney.
Katrin Amunts, PhD, is Professor Director of the C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, HHU Duesseldorf, and of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Center Juelich. Since 2023, she holds the position of Joint CEO of the non-profit EBRAINS AISBL.
Christopher G. Goetz, MD, is Professor of
Neurological Sciences and Pharmacology at Rush Medical College, USA and oversees Research Development and Strategic Planning for the Parkinson and Movement Disorder Program. His research specialties are in pharmacology, neurochemistry, clinimetrics, and statistical modelling. He is past President of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society and past Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Movement Disorders.
