
Margaret M MogaIndiana University-Indianapolis · Anatomy Cell Biology Physiology
Margaret M Moga
PhD
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40
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Introduction
My current research is focused on developing scientific measures of energy healing.
Publications
Publications (40)
Chakras are part of Eastern spiritual traditions and Western biofield therapies. In this narrative review, anatomical and physiological evidence in support of chakras as scientifically detectable structures is examined. Although there have been few scientific studies of the chakras, evidence suggests that chakras may emit electromagnetic radiation...
Exceptional experiences of healers include unusual sensate phenomena, such as images, bodily feelings and sounds, as well as contact with nonphysical beings and other dimensions. In this study I examine the exceptional experiences of students and practitioners of Healing Touch, an energy-based biofield therapy, using a new survey instrument, the He...
ABSTRACT: Psychic healing, involving the paranormal abilities of healers, has re-invented itself in the cultural mainstream as “energy medicine”. Energy medicine ‘biofield therapies’ such as Reiki, Qigong, and Healing Touch are administered by a healer who clears, balances and replenishes ‘life-energy’, sometimes with the assistance of nonphysical...
In response to the Vieques 2014 FQXi Conference on the Physics of Information (http://fqxi.org/conference/2014), this colloquium brings together over a dozen neuroscientists, physicists and medical researchers to provide a body of empirical data both supporting and extending the quantum information hypotheses recently advanced by Koch, Tononi and T...
Introduction: About 1 in 3 American adults have cardiovascular disease associated with risk factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, and stress. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is considered a non-invasive procedure for analyzing cardiovascular autonomic influence. Depressed HRV has been linked to abnormal cardiovascular autonomic modula...
Worldwide obesity is a major health concern because of its linkage to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Obesity has also been linked to an increased incidence of falls. Fall injuries exceeded $16 billion in 2000. To reduce the impact on society and individuals, it is essential to explore mechanisms to reduce the f...
Obesity is a major health concern because of its linkage to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Another less studied outcome is the observed increase in the incidence of accidental falls. According to CDC, medical costs associated with fall injuries exceeded $16 billion in 2000 and by 2020 will exceed $54 billion. T...
A few studies have reported magnetic field changes during bioenergy healing. In a pilot experiment, we examined magnetic field activity during hands-on healing and distant healing of mice with experimentally induced tumors. During healing sessions, we observed distinct magnetic field oscillations adjacent to the mice cages, which were similar in ap...
The paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is reciprocally connected with the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the mammalian circadian pacemaker. In this study, we examine the effects of PVT lesions on the free-running circadian rhythm of locomotor activity in the blinded, albino rat. In the blinded rat, lesions of the PVT cause a period lengthening of the...
The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to explore static and dynamic posturography as an objective measure of balance performance after intensive practice of Tai Chi; 2) to determine whether multi-day Tai Chi workshops are viable venues to gather data from long-term Tai Chi practitioners and 3) to determine whether a 6-day, intensive Tai Chi i...
Classical experimental design presupposes that subjects, randomly separated into experimental and control groups, are independent and distinct. Treatments given to the experimental group ought to have no effect on the control group, which functions as a baseline to illustrate "what otherwise would have happened." Any change in the control group is...
Annexin 7 (ANX7), also termed synexin, is a member of the annexin family of calcium-binding proteins. In the present study, we examined the distribution and cellular localization of ANX7-immunoreactivity in the rat hippocampus and its response to adrenalectomy (ADX). ANX7 was co-localized with OX42 in microglia distributed throughout the hippocampu...
Major risk factors for gallbladder disease include a sedentary lifestyle and a diet rich in refined sugars. In genetically prone individuals, these two factors lead to an abnormal bile composition, altered gut microflora, and hyperinsulinemia, with resulting gallstone formation. As a large percentage of gallbladder patients have continued digestive...
We examined the distribution of annexin 6 (ANX6) in rat brain with immunohistochemistry (IHC). Several neuronal cell populations were intensely labeled with the ANX6 monoclonal antibody (MAb), including layer 5 of neocortex, the lateral septum, the lateral hypothalamic area, the red nucleus, and the Purkinje cell layer in cerebellum. Neuronal immun...
Androgen receptor (AR) distribution in the lizard forebrain and optic tectum was examined using PG21 immunohistochemistry. In the male Eastern Fence lizard, AR-immunoreactive (-ir) nuclei were observed in the medial preoptic area, ventromedial and arcuate hypothalamic nuclei, periventricular hypothalamus, premammillary nucleus, bed nucleus of the s...
The intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) and the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (VLG) are ventral thalamic derivatives within the lateral geniculate complex. In this study, IGL and VLG efferent projections were compared by using anterograde transport of Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin and retrograde transport of FluoroGold. Projections from the IGL...
The rat suprachiasmatic (SCN) contains a dense plexus of low-affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR)-immunoreactivity. In some SCN neurons, p75NTR is co-localized with vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). The present study examines the effect of third ventricle administration of 192 IgG-saporin immunotoxin on p75NTR and VIP immunoreactivity in...
The rat suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) contains a dense plexus of low-affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR)-immunoreactivity. Scattered patches of p75NTR immunoreactivity are present in the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL). Both SCN and IGL receive a direct retinal input. After binocular enucleation, there is a delayed loss of p75NTR-immunoreacti...
The circadian timing of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is modulated by its neural inputs. In the present study, we examine the organization of the neural inputs to the rat SCN using both retrograde and anterograde tracing methods. After Fluoro-Gold injections into the SCN, retrogradely labeled neurons are present in a number of brain areas, incl...
Low-affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) immunoreactivity in the aged human hypothalamus was examined in autopsied material. Numerous p75NTR-immunoreactive cells were found in the paraventricular and supraoptic hypothalamic nuclei. The suprachiasmatic nucleus was devoid of p75NTR-immunostaining. Many p75NTR-immunoreactive fibers extended lat...
DC magnetic fields of low- to medium-flux density (nTesla to mTesla) affect a variety of brain activities. The cellular mechanism underlying these effects is unknown. A model involving magnetohydrodynamic waves and corresponding resonance phenomena is offered here as a solution. The model is discussed in relation to the evocation of epileptiform ac...
Retrograde axonal transport of the select neuronal tracer [3H]D-aspartate was used to demonstrate possible sources of excitatory input to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the albino rat. Following injection of [3H]D-aspartate into the SCN, neurons were retrogradely labeled in the infralimbic cortex, the lateral septal nucleus, the paraventricul...
The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) receives input from all major components of the circadian timing system, including the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the intergeniculate leaflet and the retina. For a better understanding of the role of this nucleus in circadian timing, we examined the distribution of its efferent projections using...
The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) is innervated by a variety of types of neuropeptide-immunoreactive fibers. The cells of origin for many of these inputs are not known. In the present study, the combined retrograde fluorescence-immunofluorescence method was used to determine the cells of origin for neurotensin-, corticotropin-re...
On the basis of stimulation studies, it has been proposed that the infralimbic cortex (ILC), Brodmann area 25, may serve as an autonomic motor cortex. To explore this hypothesis, we have combined anterograde tracing with Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA‐L) and retrograde tracing with wheat germ aggutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase...
The hypothalamus is a major source of afferents to the parabrachial nucleus (PB), but the neurotransmitters in this pathway are largely unknown. In this study, we examine the neuropeptide immunoreactivities of neurons in the hypothalamus that project to the PB by using the combined retrograde fluorescence-immunofluorescence method. After injections...
In a previous study (Herbert et al., J. Comp. Neurol. [1990];293:540-580), we demonstrated that the ascending afferent projections from the medulla to the parabrachial nucleus (PB) mark out functionally specific terminal domains within the PB. In this study, we examine the organization of the forebrain afferents to the PB. The PB was found to reciv...
We examined the subnuclear organization of projections to the parabrachial nucleus (PB) from the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), area postrema, and medullary reticular formation in the rat by using the anterograde and retrograde transport of wheat germ agglutinin‐horseradish peroxidase conjugate and anterograde tracing with Phaseolus vulgaris...
The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) sends a dense projection to the parabrachial nucleus (PB) in the pons. The BST contains many different types of neuropeptidelike immunoreactive cells and fibers, each of which exhibits its own characteristic distribution within cytoarchitecturally distinct BST subnuclei. Corticotropin releasing factor (...
Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a recently discovered neuropeptide, isolated from the porcine brain, that is highly homologous to atriopeptin (AP), the atrial natriuretic peptide. We used a set of highly selective antisera against the two peptides to map their differential distribution immunohistochemically in the rat central nervous system. BNP...
Dynorphin is present within perikarya of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and perifornical nucleus (PeF), and within nerve terminals of the central nucleus of the amygdala, central grey, parabrachial nucleus, and the dorsal vagal complex (nucleus of the solitary tract and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus). Each of these nuclei receive efferent projec...
The central nucleus of the amygdala (CNA) and the parabrachial nucleus of the pons (PBN) are included within a group of brain nuclei involved in autonomic responses. Previous studies have shown that the CNA sends a considerable projection to the PBN and that both nuclei contain neurons immunoreactive to many different peptides. In the present study...
The peptide content of the intercalated nuclei (ICN) of the amygdala and their projection to the parabrachial nucleus was studied in the rat using the combined retrograde transport-immunofluorescence method. Neurotensin, and to a lesser extent, corticotropin-releasing factor and somatostatin, were found within ICN neurons which innervate the parabr...