Nerve Damage and Neurodegeneration

By: Jennifer Joiner, Cody Spoon, Sara Cotter

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.

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

Motor Nerve Symptoms

• weakness

• muscle atrophy

• twitching, also known as fasciculation

• paralysis

Sensory Nerve Sypmtoms

• pain

• sensitivity

• numbness

• tingling or prickling

• burning

• problems with positional awareness

Causes of Nerve Disease

• Cancer

• Diabetes

• Motor Neuron Diseases

• Autoimmune Diseases

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

Medications for Nerve Pain

• pain relievers

• tricyclic antidepressants

• certain anti-seizure medications

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.

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 felt[citation 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

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 symptoms[citation needed]. Efforts are being made to develop therapies for Alzheimer's Disease in order to stabilize cognitive function.

Cited Sources

• http://www.webmd.com/brain/nerve-pain-and-nerve-damage-symptoms-and-causes

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_injury