INTRODUCTION
The spinal cord is a major channel in the body where motor and sensory information travels from the brain to the body. It has white matter that surrounds a central gray matter. The gray matter is where most of the neuronal cells are located. Injury to the spinal cord will affect the conduction of information across any part of the spinal cord where the damage is located (Maynard et al., 1997). This will often result in permanent disability of a certain muscle or region of the body (Meletis et al., 2008) and a loss of tissue where the damage is located (Peng et al., 2009). As of now, there is no treatment for spinal cord injury expect for steroids. All steroids can do is provide protect of the spinal cord from secondary injury for specific patients (Peng et al., 2009).
Two treatment types are being studied for spinal cord injury: injection of an antagonist of the ATP-sensitive receptor P2X7 and transplantation of human embryonic stem cell derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. In the spinal cord, ATP can act as an excitatory neurotransmitter (Domercq et al,. 2009). ATP is released in excess for six hours after the initial damage. Most tissue damage happens after the main injury occurs, so finding a treatment that will slow the secondary injury down is a main interest for clinical treatment studies. Injecting a P2X7 antagonist that is sensitive to ATP into the region of the spinal cord that has been damaged has been found to slow down secondary injury (Peng et al., 2009). Also, demyelination of neurons can be found after spinal cord injury. Transplanting human embryonic stem cell derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells into the damaged tissue has shown to help with remyelinating the neurons. Th...
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..., Ducker, T.B., ….. Young, W. (1997). International Standards for Neurological and Functional Classification of Spinal Cord Injury: International Medical Society of Paraplegia, 35, 266 – 274.
Meletis, K., Barnabe-Heider, F., Carlen, M., Evergren, E., Tomilin, N., Shupliakov, O., & Frisen, J. (2008). Spinal Cord Injury Reveals Multilineage Differentiation of Ependymal Cells: PLoS Biology, 6, 1494 – 1507.
Peng, W., Cotrina, M.L., Han, X., Yu, H., Bekar, L., Blum, L., ….. Nedergaard, M. (2009). Systemic Administration of an Antagonist of the ATP-Sensitive Receptor P2X7 Improves Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury: PNAS, 106, 12489 – 12493.
Sharp, J., Frame, J., Siegenthaler, M., Nistor, G., Keirstead, H.S. (2010). Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Transplants Improve Recovery after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Stem Cells, 28, 152 – 163.
Our results provide the first demonstration that GABAA but not GABA B receptor–selective agonists reverse the thermal hyperalgesia produced by spinal cord injury. In parallel, we demonstrate that in spinal cord injury similar to peripheral nerve injury, GABAA and GABAB receptor agonists reduce cold and tactile allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia. In addition, our studies used a sensitive, reproducible test of motor function to compare the antiallodynic, antihyperalgesic, and motor effects of GABA receptor agonists. The data suggest that GABAA agonists may be efficacious in the treatment of neuropathic pain with thermal hyperalgesia without sensory or motor side effects.
Scientists are on the brink of doing the unthinkable-replenishing the brains of people who have suffered strokes or head injuries to make them whole again. If that is not astonishing enough, they think they may be able to reverse paralysis. The door is at last open to lifting the terrifying sentence these disorders still decree-loss of physical function, cognitive skills, memory, and personality.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as “SMA” is a genetic and also a motor neuron disease that affects the area of the nervous system that controls your voluntary muscle movements such as walking, crawling, and swallowing. When someone acquires this condition their muscles start to shrink as a cause to the muscles not receiving signals from the nerve cells in the spine that control function. Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a rare but serious condition.
These include the specificity theory which maintains that specific fibers and pain receptors are activated by injury after which the pain signals are projected via the spinal pathway to an area in the brain that interprets the pain. In this regard, the specificity theory virtually equates the peripheral injury with the psychological experience caused by the pain (Anderson, 2004, p. 355). However, this theory has been found to harbor several limitations as research about pain has intensified with time. In light of this, the gate theory that was proposed by Melzack and Wall has had a major contribution to the understanding of pain transmission and perception (Pain Game Part 2, 2011). Research has demonstrated that pain is affected by psychological and physiological factors which helps to explain the mechanism underlying inhibition and/or facilitaion of pai...
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement (Dugdale, Koch, and Zieve 2010). In ALS, nerve c...
Scientists would be able to grow spinal cells from pluripotent stem cells. These cells could possibly repair spinal cord damage. Those afflicted by paralysis, such as Christopher Reeve, could possibly move again. Stem cells could also be used to grow nerve cells, possibly combating Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s. While it will be many years before scientists may actually be able to find a way to combat these diseases, there is a great promise in stem cells.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability worldwide for which there is no cure. Many patients who survive from TBI may experience permanent cognitive loss, behavioral issues, and emotional disturbances, which require daily medical or social attentions.[1, 2] It is believed that over 2% US population is experiencing TBI-associated disabilities which create an annual burden evaluated at $60 billion on direct (medical service) and indirect (loss of productivity) costs.[3, 4] Traumatic brain injury is complex which consists of a mechanical trauma (primary injury) and a resulting biochemical cascade (secondary injury), and lead to a wide diversity of symptoms.[5]
“Top Ten Things to Know About Stem Cell Treatments.” Www.closerlookatstemcells.org ISSCR. Web 1 November 2013
warm) in the left upper and lower extremities; decreased strength and movement of the right upper and lower extremities and of the left abdominal muscles; lack of triceps and biceps reflexes in the right upper extremity; atypical response of patellar, Achilles (hyper) reflexes in the right lower extremity; abnormal cremasteric reflex in the right groin; fracture in cervical vertebrae #7; and significant swelling in the C7-T12 region of the spinal canal (Signs and symptoms, n.d.). The objective complaint of a severe headache could also be consistent with a spinal cord injury (Headache, nausea, and vomiting,
The wide range of prospective uses for stem cells could greatly improve the health and wellbeing of many people. In stem cell treatments, undifferentiated cells are programmed to form specific cells, which can then be transplanted to the afflicted area. Stems cells can possibly treat afflictions including “Alzheimer’s diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Another important use is in drug testing. Drugs can be tested on stem cells that develop into the target tissue before using it on human test subjects, which improves safety. Finally, transplantation of organs created from stem cells could eliminate the need for human...
Peripheral and central mechanisms involving nerve lesions and their input are substantial when perceiving phantom pain. Due to the impairment of peripheral nerves in the process of amputation, regenerative sprouting of damaged axons occurs and the activity rate of inflamed C-fibres and demyelinated A-fibres spontaneously increases (Flor, 2002). As a consequence of this nerve injury, a neuroma, which is a mass of pruned and tangled axons, may form in the residual limb producing abnormal (ectopic) activity (Katz, 1992). Flor, Nikolajsen and Jenson (2006) proposed that ectopic discharge from a neuroma in the stump illustrates abnormal afferent input to the spinal cord, which is a possible mechanism for unpro...
Hasenbring, M.I., Rusu, A.C., & Turk, D.C. (2012). From Acute to Chronic Back Pain: risk factors, mechanisms, and clinical implications: Oxford: OUP Oxford.
Anti-inflammatory drugs such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, or oral steroids, to relieve inflammation. Epidural steroid injections - a steroid injection. Steroids, with their strong anti-inflammatory effects, are delivered at the origin of the inflamed sciatic nerve roots. Manual therapy, Osteopathy or Physiotherapy can be very effective, reduce the recovery time and helps to prevent further episodes of sciatica. Surgery may be required if the sciatic nerve pain is severe and has not been relieved with appropriate manual or medical treatments.
Yanagawa, Y., & Miyawaki, H. (2012). Importance of checking prehospital neurological findings to reveal incidence of spinal cord concussion. Spinal Cord, 50, 278-280. doi:10.1038/sc.2011.151
The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The brain and the spinal cord serves as the collection section of the nerve impulses. With damage to the peripheral nervous system the central nervous wouldn’t be able to interpret the stimuli’s because they wouldn’t be able to receive them. This system is considered to be ...