Nervous system disease

Thiamine, whose structure is shown in Figure 18.17, is known as vitamin Bj and is essential for the prevention of beriberi, a nervous system disease that has occurred in the Far East for centuries and has resulted in considerable sickness and death in these countries. (As recently as 1958, it was the fourth leading cause of death in the Philippine Islands.) It was shown in 1882 by the director-general of the medical department of the Japanese nayt that beriberi could be prevented by dietary modifications. Ten years later, Christiaan Eijkman, a Dutch medical scientist working in Java, began research that eventually showed that thiamine was the... 

People who should not work with organophosphate insecticides are those with organic central nervous system disease, mental disorders, epilepsy, pronounced endocrine disorders, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, circulatory disorders, gastroenteric diseases, liver or kidney disease, and chronic conjunctivitis and keratitis (Medved and Kagan 1983). 

As the rate-limiting enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase is regulated in a variety of ways. The most important mechanism involves feedback inhibition by the catecholamines, which compete with the enzyme for the pteridine cofactor. Catecholamines cannot cross the blood-brain barrier hence, in the brain they must be synthesized locally. In certain central nervous system diseases (eg, Parkinson s disease), there is a local deficiency of dopamine synthesis. L-Dopa, the precursor of dopamine, readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and so is an important agent in the treatment of Parkinson s disease. 

Glass WG, Lane TE (2003b) Functional expression of chemokine receptor CCR5 on CD4(-l-) T cells during virus-induced central nervous system disease. J Virol 77 191-198 Glass WG, Lim JK, Cholera R, Pletnev AG, Gao JL, Murphy PM (2005) Chemokine receptor CCR5 promotes leukocyte trafficking to the brain and survival in West Nile virus infection. J Exp Med 202 1087-1098... 

Free Rdicals in Central Nervous System Diseases... 

Central nervous system disease Infection Trauma Tumor Vascular... 

Goldberg SH, van der Meer P, Hesselgesser J, et al. CXCR3 expression in human central nervous system diseases. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 2001 27 127-138. 

Hiraoka, A., et al (1998). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-capillary gel electrophoretic analysis of molecular mass microheterogeneity of beta-trace protein in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with central nervous system diseases./. Chromatogr. A 802, 143-8. 

Histamine may contribute to nervous system diseases or disorders 262... 

Krivit, W., Peters, C. and Shapiro, E. G. Bone marrow transplantation as effective treatment of central nervous system disease in globoid cell leukodystrophy, metachro-matic leukodystrophy, adrenoleukodystrophy, mannosidosis, fucosidosis, aspartylglucosaminuria, Hurler, Maroteaux-Lamy, and Sly syndromes, and Gaucher disease type III. Curr. Opin. Neurol. 12 167-176,1999. 

S. G. N. Grant, M. C. Marshall, K.-L. Page, M. A. Cumiskey, and J. D. Armstrong. Synapse Proteomics of Multiprotein Complexes En Route from Genes to Nervous System Diseases. Hum. Mol. Gen., 14 (Review Issue 2)(2005) R225-R234. 

In this chapter, 1 tnm hrst to a few additional examples of central nervous system diseases. I begin with two examples that have a clear genetic basis and move on to others for which there is clear genetic disposition bnt an nnclear genetic basis. Later, I will provide some examples—good and bad—of the actions of small molecules on the nervous system. Finally, 1 tnm attention to the issnes of learning and memory. 

Neurologists treat nervous system diseases that mainly cause physical symptoms. Therefore, they are concerned with both the CNS and the PNS. Mental health professionals, on the other hand, treat diseases that produce emotional, thought, and behavioral symptoms. As a result, we are more concerned with the CNS and, in particular, the brain. 

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