Nerve Damage and Neurodegeneration

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Nerve Damage and Neurodegeneration

• By Jennifer Joiner, Cody Spoon, Sara Cotter

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3 types of Nerves in The Body

• Autonomic nerves. These nerves control the
  involuntary or partially voluntary activities of
  your body, including heart rate, blood pressure,
  digestion, and temperature regulation.
• Motor nerves. These nerves control your movements
  and actions by passing information from your
  brain and spinal cord to your muscles.
• Sensory nerves. These nerves relay information
  from your skin and muscles back to your spinal
  cord and brain. The information is then processed
  to let you feel pain and other sensations.

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Autonomic Nerve Symptoms

• inability to sense chest pain, such as angina or
  heart attack
• too much sweating (known as hyperhidrosis) or too
  little sweating (known as anhidrosis)
• lightheadedness
• dry eyes and mouth
• constipation
• bladder dysfunction
• sexual dysfunction

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Motor Nerve Symptoms

• weakness
• muscle atrophy
• twitching, also known as fasciculation
• paralysis

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Sensory Nerve Sypmtoms

• pain
• sensitivity
• numbness
• tingling or prickling
• burning
• problems with positional awareness

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Causes of Nerve Disease

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Motor Neuron Diseases
• Autoimmune Diseases

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Treatment for Nerve Damage

• regulating blood sugar levels for people with
  diabetes
• correcting nutritional deficiencies
• changing medications when drugs are causing nerve
  damage
• physical therapy or surgery to address
  compression or trauma to nerves
• medications to treat autoimmune conditions

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Medications for Nerve Pain

• pain relievers
• tricyclic antidepressants
• certain anti-seizure medications

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What is neurodegeneration?

• is a condition in which cells of the brain
  and spinal cord are lost. The brain and spinal
  cord are composed of neurons that perform
  different functions such as controlling
  movements, processing sensory information, and
  making decisions. Cells of the brain and spinal
  cord do not readily regenerate en masse, so
  excessive damage can be devastating.
  Neurodegenerative diseases result from
  deterioration of neurons or their myelin sheaths,
  which may eventually lead to CNS-related
  dysfunction.

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Pathophysiology

• Neurodegeneration is often caused by misfolding
  of proteins (prions) in such way that they can no
  longer perform their cellular functions and
  instead trigger equivalent modifications in
  normal proteins, thus creating a cascade of
  damage that eventually results in significant
  neuronal death. In humans, this can cause
  Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or variant CJD (Mad Cow
  Disease).
• Normally, neurodegeneration begins long before
  the patient experiences any symptoms. It can be
  months or years before any effect is
  feltcitation needed. Symptoms are noticed when
  many cells die or cease to function.
• Additionally, the role of microglia in modulating
  neuroinflammation in CNS-related degeneration is
  currently being studied

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Treatment for Neurodegeneration

• Initial treatment for neurodegenerative disorders
  is dependent on diagnosis of the underlying
  condition. Presently, few therapies are available
  for the treatment of most neurodegenerative
  diseases. Treatment with L-dopa can inhibit
  symptoms of Parkinson's Disease for a short time,
  but is thought to subsequently accelerate the
  progression of symptomscitation needed. Efforts
  are being made to develop therapies for
  Alzheimer's Disease in order to stabilize
  cognitive function.

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Cited Sources

• http//www.webmd.com/brain/nerve-pain-and-nerve-da
  mage-symptoms-and-causes
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_injury

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THE END