Welcome to the Virtual MS Center!
Ask any question you want about Multiple Sclerosis and one of our experts will answer it as soon as possible.
Question:
During an exacerbation, what is happening to the nerve cells to cause the body to respond? Answer: During an MS exacerbation, some unknown event or stimulus within a circumscribed region of your nervous system precipitates an inflammatory reaction. This inflammatory cycle includes breakdown of the blood brain barrier (often but not always identified briefly by contrast enhancement after an MRI) and recruitment of inflammatory cells (lymphocytes and macrophages) to the region. This less to further inflammatory injury to myelin and neural elements. Many of the initial symptoms of a relapse are caused by temporarily malfunctioning of neural elements that recover quickly. Resolution of other symptoms require clearance of myelin debris, remyelination and repair of synaptic connections. This can take weeks or months to complete. Axons that are transacted (cut in half) are irreversibly injured and cause permanent tissue damage and sometimes permanent symptoms. The inflammation is eventually brought under control spontaneously, damaged tissue is cleared of debris, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (the ones that make myelin) are recruited to the site of injury and attempt to repair demyelinated axons (with some partial success), dendrites sprout from neurons to create new connections and an astroglial scar is formed. Revere (Rip) Kinkel MD Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program Professor of Clinical Neurosciences University of California San Diego
Chris
7/1/2018 07:01:33 pm
Thank you for this site and for your expert insight Comments are closed.
|
PLEASE NOTE: This information/opinions on this site should be used as an information source only. This information does not create any patient-HCP relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.
Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|