Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Essay -- ALS Medical Medicine Essays

Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisABSTRACT At this period, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS) is a very confusing and elusive disorder. date the clinical intromission and diagnosis of ALS dates back to the early 1900s, with Charcot being the first to scientifically report and document his findings, there simply has not been definitive evidence since that time for the etiology for ALS. This fundamental problem has befuddled the most qualified researchers and its ensuing answer has eluded the most clever experiments for some 80 years. This paper is being written to address some of the most plausible candidate causes which have come to the forefront of ALS research in the last few years. This paper allow for also try to tackle the formidable task of possibly uniting some of the findings and results of experiments from all over the world in the last 4 years. While an exact, definitive etiology, treatment, or answer is not possible at this time, there does seem to be a few underlying tren ds and findings that have reinforced their take in importance. These are the findings that will be evaluated and will hopefully act as a genesis for, perhaps a premature, minimally complete conclusion of the easy pool of knowledge that has been amassed on ALS. In addition to this, possible treatment, including pharmacological intervention, will be reviewed. INTRODUCTION ALS is a disease of the skeletal potent motor neurons throughout the nervous system that usually affects both upper and lower motor neurons. The progressive wasting and weakness of muscles that have lost their nitty-gritty supply is a characteristic sign of lower motor neuron damage signs of spasticity and exaggerated reflexes are indications of damage to the upper motor neur... ...0. Rowland. Babinski and the diagnosis of amyotrophic askant sclerosis. Neurological Institute. 1993. Vol. 33, 1. 11. Hubert and Blanchard. Pertussis toxin Pretreatment abolishes the inhibitory effect of Riluzole and carbachol on D-( 3H)aspartate release from cultured cerebellar Granule cells. Neuroscience Letters, 1992. Vol. 140, pp. 251--254. 12. Cheramy, Barbeito, Godeheu and Glowinski. Riluzole inhibits the release of Glutamate in the caudate nucleus of the cat in vivo. Neuroscience Letters, 1992. Vol. 147, pp. 209--212. 13. Benoit and Escande. Riluzole specifically blocks in-activated Na channels in myelinated nerve fibre. European Journal of Physiology, 1991. Vol. 419, pp. 603-609. 14.Drachman and Kuncl. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis An un-conventional autoimmune disease? Annals of Neurology, 1989. Vol. 26, pp. 269-274.(Outdated, but useful)