Health & Medicine
Nerve Cell Treatment Could Help Control Seizures
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 01, 2013 03:22 PM EDT
Finding the right medications for patients suffering from nerve cell malfunctions can be tricky. The problem is that while one medicine may help some patients, it may not help the others as not all nerve cells recognize ingredients in the medications and consequently, may not react to them. Fortunately, a group of researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia say that it may be possible for seemingly identical neurons to behave the same even though they are built differently under the surface.
"To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, 'every unhappy nervous system is unhappy in its own way,' especially for individuals with epilepsy and other diseases," said David Schulz, associate professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science, according to a press release. "Our study suggests that each patient's neurons may be altered in different ways, although the resulting disease is the same. This could be a major reason why doctors have difficulty predicting which medicines will be effective with specific individuals. The same problem could affect treatment of heart arrhythmia, depression and many other neurological conditions."
Schulz's study examined neurons that used different combinations of cellular pores, known as ion channels in order to achieve the same end goal of their preferred electrical and chemical balances. Schulz compared this situation to five people in separate rooms being given sets of blocks. Participants were then told to construct a tower and each person could devise a different method for constructing the same structure.
Researchers hope these findings could create new seizure disorder treatments. For instance, in epileptics (otherwise known as those suffering from seizure disorder) the neurons of the brain frequently receive too little stimulation from other neurons that often cause under or over stimulation and may create sensitivity that can create seizures. Seizure-like impulses can cause hyper-sensitive epileptic neurons to over-react and produce brain problems, possibly resulting in long-term damage.
The authors write that their hopes from this study is that it can create new treatments to help those with epilepsy, heart arrhythmia and other similar neuron malfunctioning disorders.
The study, "Neurons with the same network independently achieve conserved output by differentially balancing variable conductance magnitudes," was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Jul 01, 2013 03:22 PM EDT
Finding the right medications for patients suffering from nerve cell malfunctions can be tricky. The problem is that while one medicine may help some patients, it may not help the others as not all nerve cells recognize ingredients in the medications and consequently, may not react to them. Fortunately, a group of researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia say that it may be possible for seemingly identical neurons to behave the same even though they are built differently under the surface.
"To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, 'every unhappy nervous system is unhappy in its own way,' especially for individuals with epilepsy and other diseases," said David Schulz, associate professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science, according to a press release. "Our study suggests that each patient's neurons may be altered in different ways, although the resulting disease is the same. This could be a major reason why doctors have difficulty predicting which medicines will be effective with specific individuals. The same problem could affect treatment of heart arrhythmia, depression and many other neurological conditions."
Schulz's study examined neurons that used different combinations of cellular pores, known as ion channels in order to achieve the same end goal of their preferred electrical and chemical balances. Schulz compared this situation to five people in separate rooms being given sets of blocks. Participants were then told to construct a tower and each person could devise a different method for constructing the same structure.
Researchers hope these findings could create new seizure disorder treatments. For instance, in epileptics (otherwise known as those suffering from seizure disorder) the neurons of the brain frequently receive too little stimulation from other neurons that often cause under or over stimulation and may create sensitivity that can create seizures. Seizure-like impulses can cause hyper-sensitive epileptic neurons to over-react and produce brain problems, possibly resulting in long-term damage.
The authors write that their hopes from this study is that it can create new treatments to help those with epilepsy, heart arrhythmia and other similar neuron malfunctioning disorders.
The study, "Neurons with the same network independently achieve conserved output by differentially balancing variable conductance magnitudes," was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone