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Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with progressive damage to cells that build structures belonging to the nervous system. These diseases are dangerous mainly because mature cells of the nervous system (with very few exceptions) do not have a tendency to regenerate or duplicate - damage done to this tissue is simply not repairable.

Neurodegenerative diseasesinclude Alzheimer's disease or spongif.webporm encephalopathies. Most of these diseases have been known in medicine for a long time, but they are still in the focus of many researchers - the reason for this is that doctors still do not have satisfactory treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Neurodegenerative diseases: causes

Neurodegenerative disorders are conditions associated with congenital disorders, but they can also develop in the course of individual life. In the first of these cases, they are caused by inherited mutations. In turn, acquired forms may be associated with exposure to various factors toxic to the nervous system (neurons may be damaged, for example, with drugs, alcohol or drugs), they are also affected by head injuries, infectious processes within the nervous system or experiencing (especially numerous ) episodes of cerebral ischemia Both in hereditary neurodegenerative diseases and in acquired forms, the processes responsible for the degeneration of the nervous tissue may be:

  • the formation of pathological proteins that accumulate in the nervous tissue and damage neurons,
  • disturbances in the functions of mitochondria (cell organelles that are responsible, among others, for energy conversion processes), which result in the formation of substances that are toxic to neurons.

The disorders that appear in different neurodegenerative disorders differ from each other, however, there are some similarities between all of them. They concern the fact that in the course of these diseases it is promoted, inter alia, apoptosis, or programmed cell death. The result of this and other phenomena is the loss of nerve cells, which are not replaced with new structures - the effects of these diseases are permanent and irreversible.

Diseasesneurodegenerative: types

The group of neurodegenerative diseases includes a significant number of individuals, including:

  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Parkinson's disease
  • dementia with Lewy bodies
  • prion diseases (aka spongif.webporm encephalopathies, e.g. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, fatal familial insomnia)
  • frontotemporal dementia
  • amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • Alexander's disease
  • Huntington's disease
  • neuroacanthocytosis
  • leukodystrophy
  • Cockayne syndrome
  • hereditary spastic paraplegia
  • ataxia-telangiectasia
  • Refsum's disease
  • progressive supranuclear palsy
  • spinal muscular atrophy
  • Alpers disease
  • multiple sclerosis
  • spinocerebellar ataxia
  • degeneration of the posterior cords of the spinal cord in pernicious anemia

Neurodegenerative diseases: symptoms

Individual neurodegenerative diseases differ from each other not only in the exact mechanism of their formation, but also in the ailments presented by patients - they depend mainly on the part of the nervous system in which the disease process is located. Symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases may be related to motor dysfunction: muscle tension and stiffness may appear (e.g. in Parkinson's disease), but also motor coordination disorders (as in the case of ataxia-telangiectasia). Cognitive impairment is another problem that may be associated with neurodegenerative diseases. They can occur as a result of various types of dementia, as an example can be those phenomena that occur in people with Alzheimer's disease. Patients experience increasing memory disorders, and their attention may be significantly impaired. In the course of neurodegenerative diseases, ailments may appear that would probably direct the patient to see a psychiatrist - e.g. hallucinations.

Neurodegenerative diseases: treatment

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable entities today. Medicines administered to patients - unfortunately - are not able to lead to a cure, but their use allows to slow down the progression of the disease and minimize the intensity of the ailments experienced by the patient. The issue of treating neurodegenerative diseases is still at the center of interest of many scientists. Attempts are made to find appropriate research methods that would allow the detection of these diseases at the earliest possible stage - preferably at the stage at which they are stillthere was no significant irreversible damage to the nervous tissue. Currently, for this purpose, for example, genetic tests can be performed, which allow to detect the presence of mutations responsible for some neurodegenerative diseases in a patient. However, conducting this type of research is debatable - some genetic disorders result only in an increased predisposition to the development of the disease, so burdening a mutation does not mean that a given person will become ill in the future. Therefore, the awareness of the genetic burden can give rise to, sometimes completely unfounded, fear - the decision to perform genetic tests for an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases is therefore entirely dependent on the patient's will. help with the use of currently available pharmacotherapy. Treatment of neurodegenerative diseases is likely to change someday - for now, all that remains is to wait.

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Category:

Neurology