Adjunctive Treatment Considerations for the Addressment of Inflammation in Neuromuscular Disorders.

At the root of many of society’s major health concerns plaguing millions of Americans each year is the concept of inflammation. Encompassing cardiovascular, oncologic, dermatologic, painmanagement, and neurologic diseases, the peripheral and systemic manifestations of inflammation has been increasingly shown to be a major culprit in disease spread. Broad examples of this can be seen in various neurologic disease states.

Demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and degenerative changes associated with dementia have many factors with inflammation being one of those. The inflammatory cascade with its incorporation of pro inflammatory cytokines and transcriptional factors has been shown to be suggestive in the pathophysiology of these diseases. Similarly, glial cells, acting as neural supports, have been shown to play a role in the production of these same pro inflammatory cells (IL-1B, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha). The overproduction of these mediators is suggestive of neurodegenerative progression in both acute (ischemic injury) and chronic degenerative neural disorders. Acknowledgement and addressment of the inflammatory cascade has led to novel treatment strategies such as the use of sirtuins.(Read more)